In-form Pakistan batters Mohammad Rizwan and Shoaib Malik are likely to miss the much-important semifinal against flamboyant Australia after catching the flu.
According to media reports, both the batsmen are down with flue and are less likely to feature in Thursday’s encounter. Although both players have returned negative tests for COVID-19, t they have been advised rest from the doctor.
Both batters will undergo a checkup tomorrow. If they do not recover by the next morning, they would be replaced by senior wicketkeeper batter Sarfaraz Ahmed and young batsman Haider Ali.
Both Malik and Rizwan also missed today’s practice session while Sarfaraz was seen toiling in the middle.
Pakistan are scheduled to take on Australia in the second semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2021 on Thursday in Dubai.
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Interestingly, this is both teams’ first semifinal since 2012. While Australia have reached the final four after winning four out of five games, Pakistan have won all of their group stage games to book a spot in the knockout stage.
Australia, the five-time World Cup-winning side, still await their maiden T20 World Cup title. Pakistan, on the other hand, have won it in 2009 under the leadership of Younis Khan. They finished runners-up in the inaugural edition in 2007.
Head to Head
Pakistan enjoy a slight advantage over Australia with 13 wins in 23 games against Australia’s 9 victories. One of the games yielded no result.
In T20 World Cups
The two sides have encountered six times in the ICC T20 World Cup, and have three games each.
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