Injuries have disturbed batting combinations, says Haris Rauf

Pegged back by injuries to key players, Pakistan face an uphill task in their must-win game against India

Dubai: First, it was Saim Ayub before the start of the Champions Trophy followed by Fakhar Zaman in Pakistan’s tournament opener against New Zealand. Losing two of their established top-order batters to injury has left Pakistan scurrying for options against their virtual do-or-die encounter against India on Sunday.

Pakistan’s Haris Rauf (PTI)

Imam-ul-Haq, Zaman’s replacement, had his first hit in the nets under lights at the ICC academy ground in Dubai on Friday. Pakistan is coming off a defeat against New Zealand in Karachi and will be under pressure to beat their arch-rivals or stare at an early exit in a world event where they are hosts after 29 years.

“When you lose two in-form players, it changes your batting line-up. Our combinations have been disturbed. We have to try and cover that up and we have the batters who can do that,” pacer Haris Rauf told PCB media.

It hasn’t helped that Babar Azam, the team’s leading batter, is also under fire for playing a slow-burn 64 in a losing cause against the Kiwis. In pursuit of New Zealand’s 321 runs, Pakistan was reduced to 22/2 in the Powerplay with Babar unable to up the ante.

“It’s an important match. All the boys will try to give their best. Try and put the same effort and try to win,” he said. “No pressure. We will take it like a normal match.”

We will hear a lot more of the same from the two teams over the next day in lead up to the match. It’s what the players train themselves to say. But it will be anything but that.

The last time the two teams met in an ICC event in Dubai was in the 2021 T20 World Cup where Pakistan beat India by 10 wickets. Their previous ODI encounter in an ICC event was in the 2023 World Cup in Ahmedabad where India won convincingly.