Pakistan have been struck a critical blow ahead of the opening Test against England in Abu Dhabi after Yasir Shah suffered what appeared to be a lower back injury in training.
Yasir was bowling in the nets on Monday at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium when he appeared to get his studs caught in the surface in his follow through, after which he stumbled and fell.
Immediately he was walking off the field gingerly and holding his lower back, with the help of his spinning partner Zulfiqar Babar.
Pakistani officials said he had suffered back spasms and were willing to wait until Tuesday morning to allow him a chance to recover. But the prognosis was looking bleak.
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Yasir has been a vital part of Pakistan’s Test successes over the last the year. He made his debut in the Test series against Australia and has since taken 61 wickets in just ten Tests.
On these surfaces, against batsmen unused to conditions or his quality of bowling, he was always going to be a major weapon.
With no immediately available spin replacements in the squad, Pakistan can only consider going in with three fast bowlers and Babar. Shoaib Malik, playing in place of the injured Azhar Ali, will be another spinning option.
“Found out two minutes ago,” said Alastair Cook, the England captain. “Never know with these things. Of course it would be a loss for them. As always, the day before a big series we’re concentrating on matters which are important to us. Clearly a fantastic bowler who not many of us have faced. He’s had a good start to his Test career.”
Zafar Gohar, the 20-year-old left-arm spinner, who played for Pakistan A against England in Sharjah last week has been called up as an emergency replacement for Yasir to the squad. Gohar took five wickets in the two two-day games and was generally impressive throughout.
Whether he gets to the UAE in time, and whether Pakistan choose to play a man who has only eight first-class games to his credit, is another question but Misbah-ul-Haq, the captain, is keen to play two specialist spinners.
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