Mohammad Hafeez suffers hand injury; set to miss T20I and ODIs against Australia

Mohammad Hafeez

Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has been ruled out of action for the next two weeks following a hand injury that he sustained during a practice game prior to their series against Australia. Hafeez injured the webbing between the thumb and index finger on his left hand on Friday and will consequently miss the upcoming T20I and ODI series against the men from Down Under.

"While playing the second practice game at Sharjah on Oct. 3, Hafeez received an injury in his left palm webbing which required five stitches," a PCB media release said. "The physio's report suggested minimum two weeks rest, which ruled him out of the limited-overs part of the series against Australia. The team management had thus unanimously decided that there was no point in retaining him on the tour."

Got injured last night during practice.. 5 stitches on left hand..Wil miss T20 & ODI series.. pic.twitter.com/7AOoZBnryZ

— Mohammad Hafeez (@MHafeez22) October 4, 2014

Hafeez’s injury is a huge blow to Pakistan as they will not only be missing an experienced top-order batsman but also one of their key bowlers in limited-overs cricket. With Saeed Ajmal already being banned from bowling in international cricket, the onus was on Shahid Afridi and Hafeez to make crucial breakthroughs through the middle overs, but the responsibility of that is now solely on Afridi.

Hafeez’s importance in the Pakistan side is illustrated by the fact that the selectors have picked not one but two replacement players: Sami Aslam and Zulfiqar Babar. While Aslam is already in the UAE with the Pakistan A side and will join up with the senior squad immediately, Babar, who is yet to fly to the UAE, will probably miss the T20 on Sunday and be available for the ODIs.

Hafeez recently was reported for suspect bowling action in Champions League T20, playing for Lahore Lions.

The 3-match ODI series between the two nations starts on October 7 and ends on October 12, followed by two Test matches from October 22 to November 3.