Pakistan sideline Inzamam
As a result of the pitiful ban he copped after his team’s “protest” at The Oval in August following an accusation of tampering with the ball, the Pakistan Cricket Board decided to replace Inzamam-ul-Haq with Faisal Iqbal for the ICC Champions Trophy.
But, this means Inzamam will not be able to play if Pakistan reaches the final, even though he’d have served out a four match ban. Inzamam’s ban would only be done and dusted with after the semi-final stage. My guess is that even if Pakistan ensures shows that one of the players got injured during the tournament, they still can’t get a replacement. I think replacements are only allowed if an injury was sustained to a member of the 14-man squad before the tournament.
Pakistan may have actually been better off letting Inzamam be part of the squad, hoping that they reached the final (which isn’t entirely unlikely!), by when he’d be eligible to grace the occasion. I can’t see Faisal Iqbal actually make it to the playing 11, given that the middle order would be pretty formidable as it is (Younis Khan, Mohd. Yousuf, Afridi & Razzaq).
Cross-posted on Cricket 24×7.
