Sam Ayub was ruled out of cricket for six weeks
Defending Champion Pakistan faced a setback on Friday in Newlands when their rising star and explosive opening batter Sam Ayub was ruled out of cricket for six weeks due to an injury sustained by a batter while fielding on 1st day of 2nd test match against South Africa.
Saim Ayub who recently rose to prominence after hitting a purple patch with the bat during last few months. After struggling start to his international career Saim found his mojo specially in ODI cricket and scored 3 centuries in his first 9 games including two against South Africa in ongoing series.
Saim Ayub was marked as one of the players to looked out for in upcoming Champions Trophy scheduled to take place in Pakistan and UAE after his stellar ODI number. He is averaging 64 in ODI cricket with a strike rate of 105 runs per 100 balls.
With estimated six weeks required to recover from the ankle fracture it highly impossible that he can make it to Pakistan’s Champions Trophy Squad as tournament with full fitness as mega event will all set to start within six week’s time.
The absence of Saim Ayub from the Pakistan Squad will badly impact Pakistan’s hopes of defending the title as Siam is one of the mainstay of Pakistan batting in limited-over cricket with his explosive approach at the top of the order other than his bowling skills through which he has also bagged 5 wickets in a short international career so far.
Saim Ayub absence will make Pakistan think tank to look out for other options as they were heavily banking on Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman to open for Pakistan in Champions Trophy event.
