Babar Azam has been ruled out of the upcoming three-match T20I series against New Zealand, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) reported on Sunday afternoon.
The Pakistan skipper suffered an injury during a throw-down in the morning session, after which he was rushed to a hospital in Queenstown where X-rays confirmed a fracture in his right-thump.
“I have spoken with Babar and he is sad to miss the T20I series, as he was fully focused and keenly looking forward to the T20Is,” Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“We have a long season of cricket ahead and we now hope that he regains complete fitness as early as possible so that he can return to competitive cricket,” he added.
Babar won’t be able to return to practice at least for 12 days, which means he will have to miss the three T20Is to be played December 18, 20 and 22, respectively.
Meanwhile, Pakistan all-rounder Shadab Khan is also carrying a groin niggle, and in Sunday’s net session he faced only for a few deliveries while batting. Earlier, the 22-year-old had missed the home series against Zimbabwe due to a similar injury.
Pakistan’s revised squad for New Zealand T20Is:
Shadab Khan (c), Abdullah Shafique, Faheem Ashraf, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hussain Talat, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan, Musa Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Qadir, Wahab Riaz.
