Pakistan will finish the Caribbean leg of their summer without Fakhar Zaman. The left-hander felt his left hamstring tighten while chasing a boundary in the 19th over of the second T20I in Lauderhill, and scans that evening showed a small strain. It is bad enough to rule him out of tonight’s decider and the three ODIs that follow in Trinidad.
Khushdil Shah stepped into the XI for the third T20I, but the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have not yet said whether a replacement batter will be flown in for the 50-over series. Fakhar, meanwhile, will fly home tomorrow and start a rehab block at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.
“Our medical panel has diagnosed a grade-one strain,” the PCB said in a short release. “He will begin physiotherapy as soon as he reaches the NCA and will be re-assessed in two weeks.”
Interim batting coach Mohammad Yousuf admitted the loss is “frustrating but unavoidable”. “Fakhar looked in decent touch – 28 in the first game, 20 in the second – and we know how quickly he can take the game away,” Yousuf said. “Hamstrings are tricky; the best option is to let them heal properly.”
At 35, Fakhar has had similar trouble before. In the opening match of the Champions Trophy back in June he limped off after sprinting at cover and missed the rest of that tournament. Then, too, Pakistan were forced into an eleventh-hour reshuffle; history, it seems, likes to repeat itself.
For the side, the timing is awkward rather than catastrophic. The T20I series is level at 1-1, leaving tonight’s match in Florida as a mini-final. After that, attention switches to the ODIs – important tune-ups with next year’s Champions Trophy qualification maths lurking in the background. Khushdil offers a like-for-like left-hand option, but the top order suddenly looks a shade lighter on experience.
Hamstring strains, sports-physios keep saying, are “high-recurrence injuries” – once you get one, you’re more prone to another. Fakhar’s all-action style – the quick singles, the boundary chases, the dive-and-slide stops – tests that muscle group every match. Yousuf hinted a more considered workload may be discussed. “It’s not about wrapping players in cotton wool,” he said, “but we do need to be smart with the schedule.”
For now, though, Pakistan must make do without one of their more explosive white-ball batsmen. The ODIs start in Port of Spain on Saturday; if a reserve is summoned, he will have precious little time to shake off jet-lag and find a rhythm. And Fakhar? Another stint on the physio’s bed, another dash of frustration, and another wait to pull on the green shirt again.
