Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi to undergo treatment in London for knee injury

Dubai [UAE], August 29 (ANI): The Pakistan Cricket Board on Monday announced that the injured star pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi has departed for London where he will complete his rehabilitation following a knee injury.
PCB Chief Medical Officer Dr Najeebullah Soomro said in a release that Shaheen Shah Afridi requires uninterrupted, dedicated knee specialist care and London offers some of the best sports medicine and rehabilitation facilities in the world.
"In the best interest of the player, we have decided to send him there. The medical department will receive daily feedback on his progress whilst in London and we are confident Shaheen will return to full fitness before the ICC Men's T20 World Cup."
While in London, Shaheen will remain under the supervision of the PCB Medical Advisory Panel.
Shaheen suffered a PCL injury in July while fielding during the first Test against Sri Lanka. He is expected to regain complete fitness before the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022, though his return to competitive cricket will be decided upon by the PCB Medical Advisory Panel.
Last week Afridi was ruled out of the Asia Cup 2022 due to a knee injury.
He will also stay out of action during the home series against England, which will start on September 20, but will return to action during the New Zealand Tri-Series in October, which will be followed by the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia.
On Sunday, Pakistan suffered a five-wicket defeat against India in its opening match of the Asia Cup 2022. Pakistan were bundled out for 147 in 19.4 overs.
Opener Mohammed Rizwan (43) and Iftikhar Ahmed (28) were the only ones who could contribute decently with the bat. The pace and short-length deliveries of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/26), Hardik Pandya (3/25) and Arshdeep Singh (2/33) and Avesh Khan (1/19) blew away Pakistani batters and wickets fell at a regular rate.
Chasing 148, India lost KL Rahul for a duck in the very first over. After this, Virat Kohli (35) anchored the innings and formed a 49-run stand with skipper Rohit Sharma (12), who largely struggled at the other end. Twin strikes from Mohammed Nawaz, who took Sharma and Kohli's wickets restricted India to 3/53.
Following this, a 36-run stand between Ravindra Jadeja and Suryakumar Yadav helped move the scoreboard, before Suryakumar fell to debutant Naseem Shah for 18. A 52-run stand between Jadeja (35) and Hardik Pandya (33*) followed, which took India close to a win and in-form Pandya finished the proceedings with a six with two balls to spare, giving India a five-wicket win.
Nawaz (3/33) and Naseem Shah (2/27) bowled well for Pakistan, though not enough to give the team a victory. (ANI)