DARWIN: Fast bowler Shahnawaz Dahani has been ruled out of the Pakistan Shaheens’ Darwin tour after picking up a back injury.
Dahani will miss the second four-dayer against Bangladesh A starting from Friday and the white-ball leg of the Darwin tour, which involves two one-day matches and the Top End T20 Series.
The 25-year-old fast bowler, who picked up four wickets against Bangladesh A in the first four-day match, will return to Pakistan immediately and will be assessed by the medical panel before starting the rehabilitation process.
Spin-bowling all-rounder Mubasir Khan has been added to the white ball squad as cover for Dahani.
Khurram Shahzad, who was set to return after the completion of two four-day match series against Bangladesh A, will now be available for selection in the two one-day matches against Northern Territory Strike and Bangladesh A on 4 and 6 August, respectively.
Shahnawaz Dahani starred on day four of the first four-day match as he and Mehran Mumtaz shared seven wickets to bundle Bangladesh A in 79.2 overs.
Requiring 408 runs to win or to bat out the day to save the game, Bangladesh A’s opening batters started the day by bringing up a fifty-run opening partnership continuing from the overnight score of 20-0. Dahani struck to remove Shadman Islam (26, 65b, 4x4s) in the 22nd over.
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Shaheens’ bowling attack toiled for another 21.1 overs when Mehran eked out the vital scalp of Parvez Hossain Emon, who had faced 138 balls for his 57 runs hitting six fours and two sixes. Mehran soon trapped Aich Mollah, for a paltry four, in the 50th over.
For the next 12.2 overs, Amite Hasan (71, 102b, 14x4s) and Shahadat Hossain put on 57 runs ringing the alarm bells for Shaheens.
Dahani made much-needed inroads in the Bangladesh A batting by removing well-set Amite in the 63rd over and Ariful Islam (4, 5b, 1×4) in the 65th over with a little over two hours’ time left in the day.
With Shaheens five wickets away from triumph, Mehran Mumtaz landed a double blow in the 71st over to end Shahadat’s (42, 62b, 7x4s) rearguard effort and removed Hasan Murad for a five-ball duck leaving Bangladesh A 221-7.
It took Shaheens 15.2 more overs to remove the remaining three batters as Ripon Mondol resisted with an unbeaten 43 off 30 balls hitting seven fours and Mahidul Islam chipped in with a 66-ball 15 with Bangladesh A scoring 279 all out in 86.2 overs.
Mehran and Dahani collected figures of 4-84 and 3-57, respectively. Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Ali picked up one wicket each.
The second four-day match between Pakistan Shaheens and Bangladesh A will start on Friday, 26 July at the same venue.
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