04:51
Samiuddin: The management don’t seem to be convinced of Yasir’s injury
Yasir Shah‘s difficult tour of Australia continued on the second day of the final Test in Sydney when he picked up a low-grade hamstring strain in his left leg.
Yasir struggled through the warm-ups in the morning. He did come out to field, though his movements were limited and he seemed restricted in his ability to throw the ball back in from the outfield.
But within the first hour, he came on to bowl a ten-over spell that took him through to lunch, after which he did not appear. Pakistan appeared to be confused about the problem, thinking him well enough to go on the field and bowl in that session before allowing him to stay back post-lunch. Only later in the day was it confirmed that he is suffering from a hamstring strain.
“He is telling us he has got some pain in his hamstring which he did when he chased the ball towards the boundary yesterday,” Mickey Arthur, the Pakistan coach, said. “Our physios have worked probably a whole day with him.
“We tried to get through the morning session with him and he did it, and he did admirably and he carried on and he got through the session. Had a lot of treatment again during lunchtime and then just could not get through. So instead of having him on the field at 50% we left him off and Azhar [Ali] again stood up and did a great job.”
Arthur said Yasir would be able to bowl again if required at some stage of the match. Yasir has bowled 134.1 overs in the series so far, a heavy workload on a bowler who is among the most overworked bowlers in the world since his debut two years ago.
Pakistan’s other bowlers have also looked tired in this Test – not least Mohammad Amir – a result of what has been an unusually busy Test year for them.
“The guys are pretty tired, they really are,” Arthur said. “Amir… he keeps going you know. Over the last six months or so we have played massive amount of cricket and he just keeps going and keeps going, even though he has taken a lot of niggles, and he hasn’t shirked his responsibilities and he keeps running for us. They are not in good shape but they have kept going.”
Osman Samiuddin is a senior editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo