Naseem Shah clarifies situation regarding alleged shoulder injury in LPL 2023 ahead of Asia Cup
Pakistan fast bowler Naseem Shah has provided an update on his shoulder injury that ruled him out of his team's must-win Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2023 game against Galle Titans on Tuesday.
The youngster clarified that he needed to rest himself and wanted a break after playing continuously. During the toss between Colombo Strikers and Galle Titans, Strikers captain Chamika Karunaratne said that the right-arm speedster had a shoulder injury.
However, the youngster revealed that back-to-back games in the LPL after the Test matches against Sri Lanka meant that he needed a break ahead of a gruelling few months.
As quoted by Cricket Pakistan.pk, the 20-year-old said:
"There is no injury or anything like that. I have been playing a lot of cricket recently, including the Sri Lanka Tests and back-to-back matches (in the LPL).
"In this weather, it is very tiring, so some rest was needed. Babar also said that it would be better to take some rest because we have important matches coming up."
The right-arm speedstee has been in decent form in LPL 2023, taking ten wickets in seven games at 19.40 alongside an economy rate of 7.32.
Naseem Shah suffered injury in first game of 2022 Asia Cup
Naseem suffered severe cramps during the first game of the Asia Cup 2022 as he limped to complete a spirited bowling spell. While the 20-year-old took respectable figures of 4-0-27-2, Pakistan lost the game.
Nevertheless, Shah lasted the entire tournament and picked up seven wickets in five games at an average of 19.71.
The Men In Green made it to the final of the last edition but lost to Sri Lanka by 23 runs. They open their 2023 Asia Cup campaign against Nepal on August 30 in Multan.
Before the Asia Cup, Babar Azam and co. play three ODIs against Afghanistan in Sri Lanka.
Pakistan squad for 2023 Asia Cup
Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi,, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim