Pakistan's chances of defending their Champions Trophy title have been dealt a major blow with opener Fakhar Zaman being ruled out for the remainder of the tournament due to an oblique injury.
The injury occurred while Zaman was fielding in the first over of New Zealand's innings. He fell awkwardly and was immediately taken off the field for a medical assessment. Although he briefly returned to play, Zaman was forced to leave the field again, raising concerns over his condition.
Imam, 29, who has represented Pakistan in 72 One-Day Internationals (ODIs), was named as Fakhar's replacement after the latter was ruled out due to an oblique injury.
“The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 has approved Imam-ul-Haq as a replacement for Fakhar Zaman in the Pakistan squad,” the committee said in a statement.
As per the event’s regulations, the approval of the Event Technical Committee is required before a replacement player can be officially added to the squad.
"Representing Pakistan on the biggest stage is an honour and dream of every cricketer in this country. I have been privileged enough to represent Pakistan multiple times with pride. Unfortunately I'm now out of ICC Champions Trophy 2025 but surely Allah is the best planner," the left-handed batter said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Earlier, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has confirmed that Zaman will not travel with the team to Dubai for their upcoming match against India on February 23.
"Fakhar Zaman is not traveling with the side to Dubai. The ICC will make further announcement in due course," PCB said in a statement.
It should be noted here that New Zealand produced an impressive display with the bat and followed it up with a calculated bowling effort to outclass Pakistan by 60 runs in the Champions Trophy opener at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi.
The defending champions were out done in all departments in front of a capacity crowd that also had President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari in attendance. They were bowled out for 260 in 47.2 overs.
Chasing a 321-run target, Pakistan had a wrong-footed start when they were forced to send Saud Shakeel to open the innings with Babar Azam since Fakhar Zaman was delayed by 20 minutes due to his absence off the field due to a spasm while fielding.
Black Caps fast bowler O'Rourke provide an early breakthrough by removing Saud Shakeel (6) and Captain Mohammad Rizwan also could not last long and fell after scoring just three, courtesy an acrobatic fielding effort from Glenn Phillips. Pakistan were reduced to 22-2 in 10 overs.
Babar and Fakhar Zaman then made a partial recovery, though at snail pace, by adding 47 runs for the fourth wicket but Fakhar, who was struggling out in the middle due to the back spasm, was bowled by Michael Bracewell after scoring 24 off 41 deliveries.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ