The PCB has picked seamer Rahat Ali as a replacement for the injured Junaid Khan in Pakistan’s World Cup squad. The ICC’s technical committee will need to approve the switch.
The selection of Ali, who has played only one ODI in a seven-year List A career and no international game since the Sharjah Test against New Zealand in November, was approved by PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan on the recommendation of chief selector Moin Khan.
Junaid was ruled out of the World Cup after failing a fitness test in Lahore earlier this week. He had already pulled out of the recently-concluded two-match ODI series against New Zealand due to a thigh injury sustained during training in Lahore in January and, despite undergoing a rigorous rehabilitation programme at the National Cricket Academy, could not regain full fitness in time. In October he had picked up a knee injury and was ruled out of Pakistan’s entire international winter season in the UAE. He recovered from that injury to make the World Cup squad, but then he had a fall while bowling in the nets in Lahore.
Ali has played 11 Tests – aside from his solitary ODI, which was way back in June 2012 against Sri Lanka – picking 31 wickets at 36.67. In this season’s domestic one-day competition, the President’s Gold Cup One Day, where he plays for Khan Research Laboratories, he has eight wickets at 32.37.
