Pakistan have taken a concussion substitute for all-rouunder Shadab Khan in the ongoing match against South Africa. Leg-spinner Usama Mir has replaced the 25-year-old.
Earlier, Shadab was assessed by the team medical panel and had been declared fit to participate in the rest of the game.
However, after a thorough assessment, the Pakistan team medical panel decided to replace him. The substitute request was approved by the match referee.
In the ongoing 26th game of ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023, South African captain Temba Bavuma played a delivery and aimed for a single off Iftikhar Ahmed's bowling. Shadab, positioned at mid-on, moved towards the ball and hurled it towards the stumps. Regrettably, he landed awkwardly on his shoulder.
A stretcher was summoned onto the field, but the Pakistani all-rounder left the field under the care of a physio without moving his neck.
At the time of writing, South Africa were 115/2 in chase of 271. Opening pair of Temba Bavuma (28) and Quinton de Kock (24) are back in the hut with Rassie Van der Dussen and Aiden Markram batting in the middle.
Regarding Pakistan's innings, they lost their openers – Abdullah Shafique (9) and Imamul Haq (12) – for cheap scores as Marco Jansen struck twice to bring the team under pressure.
Skipper Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan tried to build a partnership in order to boost the total but Gerald Coetzee dismissed the latter for 31. The Pakistan captain was removed for 50 and Iftikhar Ahmed fell for 21 by Tabraiz Shamsi.
Saud Shakeel (52) and Shadab Khan (43) took the aggressive route and put scores on the board with fiery boundaries. After their removal, Mohammad Nawaz tried to keep up the momentum so a reasonable total could be built against the Proteas. However, he pulled poorly on Jansen’s delivery and was caught on the off side.
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first against South Africa in the ICC World Cup 2023 fixture today at MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Pakistan made two changes to the team. Nawaz and Wasim Jnr came to the side in place of Hasan Ali and Usama Mir.
With three consecutive defeats, Pakistan are eager to roar back into the competition when they play South Africa in their sixth match of the mega event.
The Green Shirts started the World Cup campaign with wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka in Hyderabad, but since have faced three successive defeats. In their last match, Afghanistan shocked Pakistan by eight wickets.
- Shadab Khan