Haris Sohail suffers an injury, may return home

Karachi: Pakistan's Test batsman Haris Sohail has suffered a shoulder injury in Sri Lanka and could be recalled home. Chief selector Haroon Rasheed told PTI that the team management has not yet decided to send Sohail back to Pakistan.

"He suffered a nasty fall on his shoulder during practice but the management is currently having him examined by the best doctors and will decide soon whether he will remain with the team or return home," the former Test batsman said.

Sohail, a southpaw, has been a consistent performer in Tests and One-day Internationals since last year but didn't get a chance to play in the first Test against Sri Lanka, which Pakistan won comfortably last week at Galle.

Sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board said that doctors have advised Sohail at least two weeks of rest to recover from the injury but the selectors are yet to decide whether to call him back or retain him for the ODI series in Sri Lanka.

The chief selector admitted that after Bangladesh's win over India in the ongoing ODI series, Pakistan's task to qualify for the 2017 Champions Trophy has become challenging.

The top eight teams in the ICC rankings will automatically qualify for the Champions Trophy. "After the Test series is over, we need to just focus on winning the five-match ODI series against Sri Lanka if we want to improve our one-day rankings," he noted.

Pakistan are currently placed at number nine in the ICC ODI rankings and the cut off date for finalising the eight teams for the Champions Trophy is September 31, 2015.
Rasheed, meanwhile, said Bangladesh's win over India in the ongoing ODI-series had not come as a surprise, as the Tigers had shown remarkable improvement in the limited over series against Pakistan also.

"Their experienced players have gained a lot in confidence and have got the winning mentality while they are getting some exciting young players, who have boosted their ODI cricket," he said.