Zafar Gohar, the left-arm spin bowler who recently featured in Pakistan ‘A’ team’s two matches against England, has been selected as a temporary replacement for Yasir Shah, who suffered from a back injury during the Team Pakistan practice session at Sheikh Zayed Stadium Monday morning, the Pakistan Cricket Board said.
A press release issued by PCB said that Yasir Shah has not yet been ruled out of the first Test match, and a final decision on fielding him or not shall be taken before the match commences on Tuesday.
Yasir, who was widely tipped to play a match-winning role in the three-match Test series against Alastair Cook’s side, suffered a back injury in the nets and may join top-order batsman Azhar Ali on the sidelines who failed to recover from a toe infection.Captain Misbah-ul-Haq termed Yasir a doubtful starter for the first game.
“We will wait on a final decision on Yasir on the morning of the first Test but judging by his current condition, his participation is highly unlikely,” Misbah told reporters during a pre-match press conference.
Pakistan were pinning their hopes on relative Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar to cause England’s batsmen problems in the absence of spin duo of Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman who were England’s tormentors in the 2012 whitewash, taking 43 wickets for an average of 15.6 runs.
Spin bowling great Abdul Qadir tipped Yasir to match Ajmal’s exploits and termed him the ‘difference’ between the two sides.
“Pakistan have a clear edge over England simply because of their quality spin attack. If Yasir continues to perform the way he has been in the last few series, England will be in real trouble. Traditionally, England have not been too competent against quality legspin,” Qadir told Dawn.
Pakistan take on England in a three-Test series, the first of which starts on October 13.