ENG vs PAK 3rd Test: Pakistan Cricket team looks in great trouble as one of their prolific pacer, Naseem Shah has been ruled out of the Karachi Test beginning on December 17 due to a shoulder injury. Naseem who had suffered from a shoulder niggle during the Rawalpindi Test failed to recover on time & thus missed the ENG vs PAK 2nd Test held in Multan.
Naseem was seen in immense pain during the Rawalpindi Test & was having difficulty in fielding especially throwing the ball in from the outfield. However, even after discomfort & pain Naseem displayed a spectacular performance on the flat pitch of Rawalpindi where he scalped five wickets. According to the latest reports of PCB, Naseem will now travel to the High-Performance Center in Lahore where he will undergo rehabilitation.
The PCB hasn’t named any replacement for Naseem yet, but it’s quite obvious that his absence will affect their fast-bowling attack to a greater extent. Pakistan is already reeling without the services of their two ace pacers as Shaheen Shah Afridi continues to remain out of action due to a knee injury while Haris Rauf has been ruled out after sustaining a quad injury during the Rawalpindi Test.
Mohammad Wasim Jnr might fill in the place of Naseem Shah in ENG vs PAK 3rd Test
During the second Test, Pakistan had decided to add Hasan Ali to the Test squad but in the end, they included all-rounders in their team with Mohammed Ali the only specialist pacer in their Playing XI. This strategy couldn’t yield results for them as they lost the fixture by 26 runs thereby losing the series by 2-0. Faheem Ashraf shared the new ball duties with Mohammed Ali while all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz & debutant spinner Abrar Ahmed were added to the Playing XI.
Considering the spin-friendly nature of National Stadium Pakistan might think of handing its debut to Wasim JNR who displayed an eye-catchy performance in the T20 World Cup. For the unversed, Mohammad Wasim has an experience of just seven first-class fixtures but he might get a place in the Playing XI for the ENG vs PAK 3rd Test due to his prolific performances in the marquee T20 World Cup as well as his good stats in first-class fixtures.
Naseem suffered a shoulder injury during the County Championship 2022 in April when he was featuring for Gloucestershire where he could bowl just 11 overs on his debut. However, soon he was replaced by Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Amir in the Multan Test.
