Pakistan selectors announced their probable 22 for the ‘skill camp’ before the England tour, but within 24 hours of the announcement, they have been struck by some disappointing news. One of Pakistan’s most reliable and experienced openers, Mohammad Hafeez, is yet to recover from the knee injury that he sustained during the Asia Cup campaign earlier this year. Hafeez participated in the recently concluded World T20 with the injury and it further aggravated his condition and eventually ruled him out of Pakistan’s final two World T20 games against Australia and New Zealand.
After missing the ongoing fitness boot camp at the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad, he has been ruled out of the skill camp at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore beginning from May 28.
The pain in Hafeez’s right knee is yet to fade even after following the roadmap provide by PCB’s medical panel and undergoing treatment under them for more than two months. He was supposed to have a smooth recovery but the progress so far is disappointing. The batsman has gone through three scans since his injury and a fresh MRI scan revealed that he is suffering from bone edema and muscular pain.
A final call on his selection for the England Test series is expected to be taken in the next week after his fitness test reports arrive. Though with the start of the Test series is still six weeks away, ‘Professor’ is expected to travel with the team to England in hope for a speedy recovery and will be closely monitored by the doctors.
Hafeez issued show cause notice
Problems for Hafeez are looking to be never ending and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) issued a show cause notice to right-hander for his tweets regarding players’ education.
Hafeez, replied during a question and answer session on Twitter with the fans and said that education is an important part of life but having degrees alone is not enough and tweeted, “Having degrees r not enough. I m proud to b a TEST cricketer#my DEGREE”, which is contrary to Shaharyar Khan’s comment about how poor education has been one of the vital causes of Pakistan’s poor performance. In another tweet, he said, “Cricket is a complete education of a human being I believe..”
Hafeez though later defended himself and stated that he was not absolutely aware of the whole situation and his tweet was a normal reply to his fan.
PCB perceived Hafeez’s tweets as opposing the PCB boss and has asked for a written explanation from him by issuing a show cause notice.
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