The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have announced that opening batters Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman will not be available for selection for the upcoming One Day International (ODI) series against Australia, starting in less than two weeks' time.
Both players are currently recovering from injuries and are under the supervision of the PCB medical team.
“The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced that both players are currently recovering from injuries and have been advised to continue their rehabilitation
programmes under the supervision of the PCB medical panel. Consequently, they have been ruled out of selection for the ODI series,” read the official statement.
It is worth mentioning that the PCB are yet to announce their squad for the three-match ODI series against the defending world champions. Pakistanwill now have to find new sets of openers for their series against Australia.
The Men in Green’s in-form T20I batter Sahibzada Farhan could get a nod from the selectors. The 30-year-old only made his ODI debut in the three-match series against Bangladesh, where he scored just 64 runs. However, since then, he has gone on to score 380 runs in the Pakistan Super League, averaging 42.22.
Former captain Babar Azam could be another notable inclusion in the ODI side. The right-handed batter top-scored with 580 runs in the PSL, whilst captaining the Peshawar Zalmi side to the title.
Pakistan come into the series against Australia on the back of losing their previous series against Bangladesh 2-1.
They will take on a heavily-rotated Aussie team, which would be without the fast-bowling trio of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, along with hard-hitting Travis Head. Opening batter Mitchell Marsh is set to captain the side, which will also include Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis and Adam Zampa, amongst others.
The three-match series will commence on Saturday, May 30, at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, with the two subsequent games to be held in the city of Lahore.
