The India-Pakistan clash in the Asia Cup 2023 Super Fours in Colombo, which was called off for the day on Sunday, September 10 is minutes away from a resumption on the reserve day, however, the Babar Azam-led side has received a body blow ahead of the game. Star pacer Haris Rauf will sit out of the rest of the game as a precautionary measure, as confirmed by Pakistan's pace bowling coach Morke Morkel.
Morkel mentioned that Rauf underwent scans on Sunday night on his oblique muscle in which he felt a strain and with the World Cup coming, the former South African quick mentioned that it was wise to rest him a bit. "He (Haris Rauf) started feeling his oblique muscle last night. He had a scan and it revealed some inflammation. With the World Cup round the corner, it is precautionary and we'll have to use the other boys to fill the overs," Morkel said.
In Rauf's absence, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed will fill in. Rauf is Pakistan's designated death bowler and skipper Babar Azam will have to intelligently use the overs of his frontline pacers Shaheen and Naseem.
On Sunday, Naseem looked the most threatening of the three pacers as he swung past Indian top-order batters quite a few times while skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill were really aggressive against Shaheen Afridi and didn't let him settle, forgetting the horrors of the last game.
Team India scored 147 in 24.1 overs on Sunday with Virat Kohli and KL Rahul unbeaten in the middle. The duo will be eager to carry on their partnership and help India get to a score in excess of 300. The reserve day has allowed a full 50-over game to take place and hopefully, the rain stays away.
