PAKISTAN: CRICKET: Pakistan's Shoaib and Asif to miss World Cup

A beleaguered Pakistan squad left on Thursday (March 1, 2007) from Karachi for the West Indies without seasoned performers, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif and allrounder Abdul Razzaq, all ruled out due to fitness problems. Pakistan pace bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif have been ruled out of the World Cup due to injury, a senior cricket board official said just before the team's departure. Shoaib, who has played just one test and four one-dayers since last February due to fitness concerns, has been unable to recover from a knee injury that forced him to be sent back from South Africa last month. Asif has been carrying a niggling elbow problem since that tour and the pair were receiving treatment in London but neither will be fit enough to participate in the tournament in the Caribbean, which starts on March 13. The loss of the new-ball pair comes as a major setback to Pakistan's hopes ahead of their opening match against the West Indies on the first day of the tournament. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief selector Wasim Bari told reporters doctors had said the bowlers required at least another three weeks to make a complete recovery from their injuries but the team could not wait for that long. He said Yasir Arafat and Mohammad Sami would be sent as their replacements. Inzamam-ul-Haq, the disappointed Pakistan captain said his team has not had a ideal build-up to the tournament. "It is not an ideal situation. It is very difficult to be going without our two main players. Shoaib and Asif are out of the World Cup because doctors have not given them fitness clearance," he said, adding: "We will try to deliver as best as we can with whatever we have." Team coach Bob Woolmer said it was a big blow for Pakistan, but he was confident that Yasir Arafat and Mohammad Sami would live up to expectations. "Its a big blow for Pakistan cricket . Yasir Arafat and Mohammad Sami will be replacing them and will come out to the West Indies as soon as possible. And we would just like to say the team is united and we will do a really good job of getting together and doing our best in the West Indies," Woolmer said. Shoaib and Asif have faced a number of problems since testing positive for the banned substance nandrolone last October in out-of-competition tests carried out by the PCB before the Champions Trophy in India. Initially, the 31-year-old Shoaib was banned for two years and Asif for one year by a drugs inquiry tribunal, but an appellate panel of the board later exonerated them of doping charges and lifted the suspensions. The incident led to the Pakistan board holding in-house dope tests for the players and reserves in the World Cup squad. All the players appeared and cleared the tests except Shoaib and Asif, who were being treated for their injuries in Britain. Sources within the board told Reuters that the decision to drop the players on the eve of the team's departure for the West Indies might have come as a result of an unusually strong statement issued by the International Cricket Council on the doping issue. ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said in a statement that Shoaib and Asif could face doping tests as soon as they arrived in the Caribbean for the World Cup. He also described their continuing to play international cricket as an embarrassment for the sport. Medical experts say that traces of nandrolone remain the body for up to six months. The Pakistan media has reported extensively that Shoaib and Asif went to London to have private drugs tests to confirm if the substance remained in their bodies before the World Cup. Pakistan's strength lies in its middle order revolving around Inzamam, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan who have played 756 matches between them. Talking to Reuters Television in Lahore at the team's training camp over the weekend, Nasim Ashraf, Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had said Pakistan had a winning chance because the players were "really motivated." "They (West Indies) have laid new pitches. Let us see what type of pitches they have laid. If the pitches are like other new ones in the West Indies -- low bounce, maybe a little bit spinning tracks , but low bounce -- then I see a great chance for our team. And the people (players) are motivated also," Ashraf said. Coach Bob Woolmer, asked to rate his team, said: "We have a good chance. But someone asked me who they felt were favourites and I said,'Down the way the South African played us I thought they were very good.' So at the moment, with Australia having lost for or five games on the trot (?), South Africa will be favourites." "But as you know, I'm not a betting man; I'm not a bookie either," he laughed. However, skipper Inzimam rated Australia as favourites but said the 2007 World Cup would be a tough tournament as they were more serious contenders for the title than just Australia. Pakistan is placed in Group D with West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe and play their first match on the 13th.

ITN Source | March 3, 2007

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