Injury blow for Pakistan as Mohammad Haris replaces big-name batter

Haris was already a part of Pakistan's camp as one the traveling reserves alongside Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir.

Zaman had injured his knee during the Asia Cup around seven weeks back, and although he showed immense resilience and willpower to recover in time for the tournament, Zaman and the team management were always aware of the risks. And after such a short recovery period, the aggravated injury will prevent him from featuring again Down Under.

The left-hander played only one match for Pakistan in this tournament and that was against Netherlands on October 30, where he scored 20 from 16 deliveries.

“We know that Fakhar had a knee injury in Asia Cup about seven weeks ago, he has been incredibly brave, resilient and has worked really hard to come back into the team. He had an extensive rehabilitation and after which he made his way back into the team,” Dr. Najeeb Soomro, Pakistan team's doctor and PCB’s chief medical officer, told the media in Sydney.

"Obviously with any knee injury, it takes time for it to have 100 percent recovery. Fakhar and the team understood the risks coming into the tournament and we got him into the tournament. You saw how he performed in the last match. Unfortunately, he had a bit of twist which aggravated his injury. We have had scans on him which have shown no new injury. However, he doesn’t feel 100 percent.”

21-year-old Mohammad Haris has played only four ODIs and a T20I for Pakistan and he will have the enormous task of filling the boots of Zaman, a player with an experience of 72 T20Is and more than 1000 runs to his name.

Pakistan have two further Super 12 matches to play, against South Africa and Bangladesh.