Related Link : Pakistan in England 2006
Rana Naved-ul-Hasan who was suffering a groin injury while playing county cricket for Sussex has been ruled out of the England Test Series. Rana Naved was supposed to sit out of the Lord’s Test and was expected to get fit by the 2nd Test but unfortunately for him and Pakistan that wasn’t going to be the case and he will have to undergo a surgery. He has already left the Pakistan team in England and is not expected to return back to play any part in the tour. Inzamam had earlier accused Sussex of overusing Naved-ul-Hasan in the county games which led to this injury. The 28-year-old Rana Naved was one of the key performers in the last Test Series against England at home where he had taken 7 wickets in four innings.
Pakistan are also having injury worries to Mohammad Asif (elbow injury) and Mohamamad Sami (knee injury) in the tour party and the management has called up uncapped left arm pacer Samiullah Niazi. The 23-year-old Samiullah was chosen particularly by Skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq as he wanted some variety in his pace attack. The left arm fast bowler had played 32 first class games and has an impressive tally of 138 wickets at a strike rate of 41.71 till date. Samiullah Niazi could well be making his Test Match Debut at Lord’s if Mohammad Sami doesn’t get fit by then as it looks most probably that Mohamamad Asif will be cooling his heels in the pavilion. The first Test at Lord’s begins on Thursday.