‘He has to miss a couple of matches’ – Babar Azam doubts on possibility of Naseem Shah’s timely recovery for ODI World Cup

Sri Lanka beat Babar Azam and Co. in a nerve-wracking encounter during the Super Fours of the Asia Cup 2023 on September 14 at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Notably, the home team is all set to play back-to-back finals on September 17, where they will be facing Team India at Colombo, whereas the Pakistan team is out of the tournament after suffering a two-wicket loss against the hosts.

Meanwhile, star pacers Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf have missed the match owing to the injuries they sustained during the Super Fours match against India on September 11. Speaking on the same subject, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was reluctant to give an update about their injuries ahead of the ODI World Cup. Notably, the 28-year-old cricketer hinted that Haris Rauf is better suited to play in the ODI World Cup, whereas star pacer Naseem Shah may miss a few initial games of the marquee event.

Naseem Shah also will be in the World Cup later on: Babar Azam

The Men in Green will be facing the Netherlands in their opening match while taking on New Zealand on September 29 for the warm-up game. In addition, the Lahore-born cricketer reveals that right-arm pacer Rauf got a little bit of a strain and recovered before the major tournament. The stylish right-handed batter also added that Shah will be joining the squad after some time, whereas he denied revealing his other plans if they both did not recover until the World Cup.

“I’ll tell you later. Not telling you our Plan B now. But yes, Haris Rauf is not bad. He’s just got a little bit of a side strain, but he’s recovering before the World Cup. Naseem Shah also… they have a couple of miss matches, I don’t know (how long) the recovery, but in my opinion, Naseem Shah also (will be) in the World Cup later on. But let’s see,” Babar Azam said during post-match presentation.