Rumman Raees joins Pakistan squad in England to replace injured Wahab Riaz

Rumman Raees has been called into the Pakistan squad for the Champions Trophy to replace the injured Wahab Riaz. The 25-year old has played 2 T20 internationals but is yet to make his debut in the ODI arena. Like Wahab, Raees is also a left-arm fast bowler, who was part of the squad which went to the West Indies recently.

Wahab, in the game against India, injured his ankle while bowling his 9th over. He had to leave the field midway during the innings and was later ruled out of action for 2 weeks. In 8.4 overs, Wahab had conceded 87 runs, which till date is the most expensive figures in the history of the Champions Trophy. He later apologised for his poor show in the high-octane clash at Birmingham through an emotional tweet on his Twitter handle.

Resurgence from Pakistan

Pakistan, after losing the Indian game badly, made a remarkable comeback by beating South Africa on Wednesday. They now find themselves in with a great chance to go through to the semi-finals. The Men in Green will have to beat Sri Lanka on Monday in Cardiff.

Pakistan bowling was remarkable against the Proteas as they had them on the mat early in the innings. They were reduced to 118 for 6 after 29 overs before David Miller’s 75* got them past 200. Pakistan have further strengthened their bowling attack by including Raees in their squad.

“Rumman joined the squad this morning and Wahab has been released,” said team spokesman Raza Kitchlew.

Morale high going into the Sri Lanka game

The Pakistan team travelled to Cardiff on Thursday and decided not to train that day. They, however, will start training from Friday.

“Team will not train on Thursday as it is travel day but will be back to work on Friday,” Raza said. “The morale is very high and the team is looking forward to the last match and move to the final four of the tournament,” he added.

Pakistan’s team was never expected to fight for a spot in the final four. But their resurgent victory against South Africa has put them in contention. Sarfaraz has to motivate his team to bring their A-game to the Sophia Gardens as Sri Lanka are no pushovers after handing India a shock defeat on Thursday.