Karachi, March 18 The medical panel of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) suspects that senior players, Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman, may not have been fully fit when they were selected for the T20 World Cup squad.
The same concerns were raised by senior selector, Aaqib Javed, at a media conference last week, and he said the board would investigate the matter.
A source close to the board said that Dr. Javed Mughal, a UK-based consultant on sports physiotherapy and medicine, who joined the PCB medical panel as director of sports exercise and medicine in January, has expressed his concerns after examining Babar and Fakhar after the World Cup.
The issue came to light when Babar refused to play in the National T20 Championship after returning from the World Cup, citing hamstring irritation, while Fakhar was also dealing with similar issues.
"When Babar was examined, his injury turned out to be more serious than initially diagnosed, while Fakhar has also been struggling with the same problem for months now," the source said.
He said the national selection committee made it clear to the medical panel that they had selected Babar and Fakhar in the World Cup squad after getting clearance from the Pakistan team physiotherapist, Cliffe Deacon.
Allegations suggest that Deacon has previously allowed players with minor injuries to play due to his close relationship with them.
Babar is now undergoing rehabilitation at the national cricket academy under the supervision of the medical panel and is expected to be cleared to play in the Pakistan Super League, where he will captain Peshawar Zalmi. The PSL starts on March 26.
Fakhar recently appeared in a National T20 Cup match, and on Tuesday posted on social media that while he was not fully fit for the 50-over series in Bangladesh, he has now recovered to play in the T20 event.
Both players were sidelined for the Bangladesh tour, in which Pakistan lost the series 1-2, but now sources close to the selectors have confirmed that, even before the injury issues came out, they had decided to drop Babar due to poor form in the World Cup.