Big blow for Pakistan and a big boost for India as premier pacer Shaheen Afridi has been ruled out of the upcoming Asia Cup 2022. The left-arm pacer has been advised a 4-6 weeks rest by the medical team following an injury to the right knee ligament. Afridi will miss the Asia Cup as well as the home series against England but is expected to return before the New Zealand T20I tri-series and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia. He had copped a right knee ligament injury while fielding during the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle last month.
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Afridi was one of the biggest threats for Team India as he had excelled the last time these two countries clashed. Afridi removed India’s opening batters Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in his first spell in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 and dismissed Virat Kohli in his second spell. The Indian camp will be happy to hear the news of Afridi not playing in the Asia Cup.
As soon as the news broke, Pakistan cricket fans trolled Rohit Sharma’s Team India for being lucky –
India’s Squad
Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
Standby: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar.
Pakistan’s Squad
Babar Azam (C), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir.
Checkout the schedule for Asia Cup 2022 below:
Group A:
India v Pakistan: 28 August, Dubai
India v Qualifier: 31 August, Duabi
Pakistan v Qulaifier: 2 September, Sharjah
Group B:
Sri Lanka v Afghanistan: 27 August, Dubai
Bangladesh v Afghanistan, 30 August, Sharjah
Sri Lanka v Bangladesh, 1 September, Dubai
Super 4:
B1 v B2: 3 September, Sharjah
A1 v A2: 4 September, Dubai
A1 v B1: 6 September, Dubai
A2 v B2: 7 September, Dubai
A1 v B2: 8 September, Dubai
B1 v A2: 9 September, Dubai
Final: 11 September, Dubai
