Babar Azam will be out of action for four to six weeks

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Pakistan have been dealt a huge blow after it was confirmed that batsman Babar Azam will miss the rest of the ongoing two-Test series against England with a fractured forearm.

Azam was struck on the forearm by a delivery from England all-rounder Ben Stokes. He iced the area for a while, but was in too much pain to continue. He ended up retiring hurt on 68, which came off 120 balls, which included 10 boundaries.

The 23-year-old did not go for an x-ray immediately, but ultimately did so after the second day of play concluded.

Pakistan physiotherapist Cliff Deacon revealed that Azam’s injury will take four to six weeks to heal.

“We decided we were going to do a precautionary x-ray at the end of the day’s play,” Deacon was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “Unfortunately, the x-ray confirmed there was a fracture. The fracture’s in the forearm, it’s one of the two bones in the forearm in the distal third of the arm, just above the wrist. That’s why he couldn’t hold his bat properly.”

Despite losing one of their more prominent batsmen, Pakistan have opted not to call up a replacement as they have three spare specialist batsmen in Usman Salahuddin, Fakhar Zaman and Sami Aslam.

Besides Azam’s 68, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Shadab Khan also starred with the bat on the second day as they scored 50, 59 and 52 respectively to help Pakistan end the day on 350/8, which gave them a 166-run lead.