 The captain of the Pakistani side, Younis Khan, has been ruled out of the
clash against West Indies. This, after he had sustained an injury during the warm-up
game versus Sri Lanka while fielding in the slips and going for a catch. As it
turns out, Younus Khan's little finger has been fractured while trying to go for
the catch. Pakistan will be facing West Indies in the first game of the
tournament, whereas on Saturday, they face India in the second encounter.
Yawar Saeed, Pakistani cricket manager - who incidentally retires at the end
of the tournament from his position - had earlier claimed that the injury was
not something much serious and that Younus Khan will be fit to play in all the
games. However, this has now changed and with the fracture being revealed, it
is evident that Younus Khan will take some more time to heal the injury. In
Younus Khan's absence, Shahid Afridi - who is the vice-captain, and the
captain of the T20 side - has been appointed the skipper of the side.
For now, it looks as if there is a decent chance that Younus Khan may miss
the entire group stage of the tournament. Even if he plays in the second game
against India, it is a decent bet that batting will not be as easy it
usually is. There has already been an example of how Brad Haddin had
been injured before the game in the Ashes and despite playing on in the series,
he was nowhere close to being a good enough batsman in the series, as he usually
is.
West Indies will be missing all their leading players in the tournament as
well, due to the prolonged battle that the cricket board has had with the players'
association. This means that a virtually unknown Floyd Reifer will lead
the side in the tournament.
Shahid Afridi will now replace Younus Khan as the captain in the first game
of the tournament against West Indies. Afridi has already fired the first salvo
at the Indians by saying that the Indians were lucky to win their previous games
against Pakistan, but it will soon change. For the records, India has
beaten Pakistan in all the games in the World Cup cricket - including
the ICC World T20. The only occasion on which Pakistan had managed to reverse
the equation was the 2004 version of the Champions Trophy in England.
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