Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed hit on his helmet; did not take the field on day four
Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has been taken to a hospital and did not take the field on day four of the second and final Test against Australia in Abu Dhabi after he was hit by a Peter Siddle bouncer on his helmet on day three of the match.
Sarfaraz was batting on 33 when a short delivery from Siddle struck his helmet. He was treated by the physios and decided to continue batting and added 48 more runs before he was dismissed by Marnus Labuschagne for 81. His 123-ball 81 helped his team set the visitors a target of 538 to win the match and series after the first Test between them ended in a stalemate, thanks to a gritty batting performance from the Aussies.
The Pakistani skipper took the field for the first few overs of Australia's innings on day four but did not come out on day four. With Sarfaraz not taking the field on day four, vice-captain Asad Shafiq is leading the side while Mohammad Rizwan is taking care of the wicketkeeping duties. Pakistan are close to winning the second Test as Mohammad Abbas ran through the Australian batting order in the first session of day four as he picked four wickets to reduce the visitors to 155/7.
First, he dismissed Travis Head caught behind for 36 before making Mitchell Marsh's tour more miserable by trapping him plumb in front of the stumps for 5. Later, he dismissed Australia's in-form batsman Aaron Finch and captain Tim Paine in the same over and put his team on the brink of an easy win. With Usman Khawaja not expected to bat in Australia's second innings, the hosts are just two wickets away from the win.
Khawaja injured his knee before the start of play on day three and did not take the field since then. He is expected to undergo a surgery and is likely to miss the upcoming series against India at home that gets underway in December.