E-Paper
Knee injury puts Shoaib's future in doubt
A knee injury that has forced the pace bowler to fly to Australia to consult a specialist could bring early curtains on his career, fears PCB.
A knee injury that has forced Pakistani pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar to fly to Australia to consult a specialist could bring early curtains on his career, fears the Pakistan Cricket Board.
"We are keeping our fingers crossed and PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan has said no stone should be left unturned to get him the best possible medical treatment, which is why he has been rushed to Australia to consult a specialist. But initial reports about the injury are not very good," The News on Sunday quoted a PCB official as saying.
After a long hiatus, Shoaib made a return to the team for the home series against England in October last year, claiming 17 wickets in three Tests.
He also bowled with venom against India in the recently concluded Test series before a stress fracture in the ankle kept him out of the one-day series.
The 30-year-old fast bowler found about his knee problem by chance when he appeared before the PCB medical panel that wanted to examine his stress fracture injury.
"He told them he was feeling a strange sort of pain in his left knee. When they took out MRI scans and X-rays they found it was a degenerative disease of sorts in his affected knee and could have spread to the other knee also," the PCB official said.
"The panel recommended that he should be immediately sent to Australia to consult a top specialist there."
Shoaib flew to Melbourne on Friday morning and the PCB will wait for the Australian consultant's diagnosis on what sort of surgery he requires and how long it could take for him to make a complete recovery.
"We are afraid of the worst case scenario because knee injuries generally spell big trouble for professional cricketers. But we will get him the best available medical help and try to ensure he is back to full fitness if possible," the official said.
