What’s the story?
Halfway through the India vs Pakistan super-clash in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, the latter find themselves in a spot of bother. Mohammad Amir, while bowling the ninth over of his spell and the 44th of the match, broke down after the first delivery.
The 25-year-old’s right leg cramped up and despite undergoing treatment, had to walk off. Wahab Riaz was brought on to complete that over. The left-arm fast bowler did a good job with the next five deliveries. However, he too went down after the fifth ball of the 46th over. Things went from bad to worse as Riaz left the ground clutching at his prone-to-injury ankle. Imad Wasim bowled the last ball of the over.
As a result, India’s arch-rivals are virtually reduced to just nine men.
In case you didn’t know...
Riaz was a doubt for this game right up till the last week because of his recurring ankle injury. The risk that Sarfraz Ahmed and Mickey Arthur took by including him in the playing XI today seems to have backfired.
The details
Before succumbing to injury, Amir and Riaz had given away 32 runs in 8.1 overs and 87 runs in 8.4 overs respectively. Amir, who was bowling well, looked like Pakistan’s only real threat on the day. He even bowled a cracker of a first over, which turned out to be a maiden.
His cramp was treated by the team’s physio and it looked like the speedster might recover to bowl the rest of the over, however, it was not to be and he had to limp off.
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Riaz, meanwhile, was pelted in his final over, as Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli hit him for 21 runs in the five deliveries that he bowled. He went down after the 5th delivery and walked off with his right shoe in his hand.
What’s next?
It would be interesting to see what Pakistan do if they lose eight wickets in the second innings. Both the bowlers looked in quite some pain and might not be able to contribute with the willow.
Author’s Take
While leaving out Junaid Khan seemed like a practical decision, the Pakistan management might live to regret that move now. The team have two more games to go in the group stage and they cannot afford to lose two of their frontline bowlers for even one of those matches.
