‘Not telling our Plan B now’, says Babar Azam on Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf’s fitness status ahead of World Cup

Colombo: Pakistan’s captain, Babar Azam, has not provided a definitive statement regarding the fitness status of crucial fast bowlers Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf for the start of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup scheduled to commence next month in India.

The pace duo picked up niggling injuries during Pakistan Super Four clash against India at the Asia Cup and were sitting on from the sidelines when the side crashed out of the tournament after suffering a 2-wicket loss (DLS) against Sri Lanka on Thursday.

Zaman Khan and Shahnawaz Dahani stepped in for the injured pair during that match, and they might be considered as potential options to participate in the World Cup if Naseem and Rauf do not recuperate in time.

While Babar is hopeful that both Naseem and Rauf will recover in time for Pakistan’s World Cup opener against the Netherlands in Hyderabad on October 6, the skipper was not giving too much away when asked on contingency plans should the pair miss out.

“I’ll tell you later,” Babar was quoted by ICC Website. “Not telling you our Plan B now. But yes, Haris Rauf is not bad. He’s just got a little bit of a side strain, but he’s recovering before the World Cup,” he said.

“Naseem Shah also… they have a couple of miss matches, I don’t know (how long) the recovery, but in my opinion, Naseem Shah also (will be) in the World Cup later on. But let’s see,” the Pakistan skipper added.

Pakistan have no official 50-over matches prior to the start of the World Cup, although they do have two warm-up matches scheduled against New Zealand (September 29) and Australia (October 3) that do not hold official ODI status.

–IANS