Mickey Arthur: “Haris Sohail was in that squad but he didn’t play because of fitness issues”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Mickey Arthur, the Pakistan team director, has acknowledged that middle order batsman Haris Sohail recently had “fitness issues.”
Arthur confirmed that Sohail is among the pool of players being considered for the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in India.
That being said, the 34-year-old from Sialkot last played an ODI for Pakistan in January 2023.
“Haris Sohail was in that squad but he didn’t play because of fitness issues,” Arthur was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Sohail wasn’t selected for Pakistan’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka or the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan.
He also wasn’t part of the team for the Asia Cup, where Pakistan began their campaign with a 238-run win over Nepal before sharing one point apiece with India after their match was rained off.
Having progressed to the Super Four stage, the men in green took down Bangladesh by seven wickets.
Following this, things started to go wrong for Pakistan as they lost to India by 228 runs.
They still had the opportunity to qualify for the Asia Cup final, but failed to do so as they lost to Sri Lanka by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zaman Khan.
Travelling reserve: Tayyab Tahir