T20 World Cup: Kamran Akmal urges PCB to sack Pakistan medical staff, here’s why
T20 World Cup: Kamran Akmal urges PCB to sack Pakistan medical staff, here’s why
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Pakistan’s veteran wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal has urged the Pakistan cricket board (PCB) to sack the medical team after Fakhar Zaman was ruled out of the ongoing T20 World Cup.
Notably, top-order batter Zaman, who missed the match against India and Zimbabwe, has been ruled out of the tournament as he suffered a knee injury before arriving in Australia, which he aggravated on Sunday when playing against the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, speaking on his YouTube channel, Akmal said that Zaman is at no fault in this situation and the medical team, captain and coach should be held responsible for the southpaw’s injury. Kamran even said that the team’s medical panel should be sacked.
“There’s no fault of Fakhar. The medical panel, selectors, captain, and coach are answerable. The medical panel should be sacked,” said Akmal.
“PCB has kept this medical panel on what basis? They don’t know about injuries, they are making injured players play. The ones fit and scoring runs in domestic cricket have to face a lot of criticism, they are sent home if they don’t pass the fitness test,” he added.
Earlier, ESPNcricinfo quoted Pakistan team doctor Najeebullah Soomro as saying, “Obviously with any knee injury, it takes time to have 100% recovery. Fakhar and the team understood the risks of coming into the tournament and we got him in. You saw how he performed with batting…Unfortunately in the last match he had a bit of a twist which aggravated his injury.”
“We were aware of the risks of the comeback. He is obviously an important player for the team. The player, the medical staff and the team management were aware of that. We decided to bring him back in. In cricket, and any sport, we take risks. Sometimes they pay off, sometimes they don’t,” he added.
Notably, Zaman has been replaced by Mohammad Haris for the remainder of the T20 World Cup.
Pakistan team still have a hint of hope of reaching the knockout stage. First, they simply must beat South Africa on Thursday. Even if Men in Green register victories in their final two group games against South Africa and Bangladesh they will need other results to go their way to earn a semi-final spot.
(With ANI inputs)
