Pakistan's injury concerns increased ahead of the limited overs internationals tour of India after Asad Shafiq damaged a finger whilst playing for the Karachi Dolphins in domestic cricket. With the first match against their arch rivals less then three weeks away, left arm spinner Raza Hasan was yesterday ruled out of the series after sustaining a back injury. Today there was further bad news for the selectors when batsman Asad Shafiq suffered a finger injury whilst taking part in the ongoing Faysal Bank T20 Cup in Lahore.

By Saj Sadiq (7th December, 2012)

Pakistan's injury concerns increased ahead of the limited overs internationals tour of India after Asad Shafiq damaged a finger whilst playing for the Karachi Dolphins in domestic cricket. 

With the first match against their arch rivals less then three weeks away, left arm spinner Raza Hasan was yesterday ruled out of the series after sustaining a back injury. Today there was further bad news for the selectors when batsman Asad Shafiq suffered a finger injury whilst taking part in the ongoing Faysal Bank T20 Cup in Lahore.

Shafiq has represented Pakistan on 61 occasions and has developed into a consistent middle order batsman particularly in Test cricket. The injury that Shafiiq has sustained is to the middle finger of his left hand and x rays will reveal whether he will take any part in the much anticipated tour of India.

A source close to Shafiq speaking to PakPassion.net stated "Asad will find out the extent of the damage once he's been for x rays. He's hurt the middle finger on his left hand and has been in a lot of pain. We'll have to see what advice he is given by the doctors and whether the injury can heal before the series against India. He'll either go for x rays later today or at the latest tomorrow, so he will have a clearer picture then."

Shafiq has played 10 T20I, 35 ODIs and 16 Test matches for Pakistan in his short career so far. He has scored 192 runs at 19.29 avg, 930 runs at 30.00 avg and 894 runs at 42.57 avg, in each of the formats respectively.

His best international performance coming against Sri Lanka, where the latter hosted the series in June/July 2012. Shafiq scored to 257 runs at an average of 64.25 in 3 matches. His highest score was of 100 not out, which was incidentally also his second Test century ever.

Shafiq has also been in and out of the One Day Internationals playing XI, competing for a place with people like Umar Akmal. He hasn’t the best of One-day starts though, but he is still a key part of the ODI set-up.

In the on-going Faysal Bank T-20 Cup, Shafiq has failed to impress. He has played 3 matches for his team Karachi Dolphins, scoring only 43 runs at an average of 14.33, with a strike rate of 81.13.

He played his first match for the domestic team against Peshawar Panthers and scored 21 runs in 27 balls. Dolphins however won by a 40 runs margin over the Panthers. He did not score well in the match against Bahawalpur Stags, where he managed to score only 1 run. His best performance of the tournament came against Rawalpindi Rams as he managed to score 21 runs in 22 balls. Dolphins however lost the match by 5 runs.

If Shafiq does miss the tour of India, the selectors may opt for ZTBL and Sialkot left hander Haris Sohail who has been in excellent form this season both in the President's Trophy as well as in the twenty over format in the Champions league in South Africa and in the Faysal Bank T20 cup.