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Imran Khan ruled out of third Test

Now that he has been ruled out, Rahat Ali, the left-arm fast bowler who played in the first Test in Abu Dhabi, is the likely replacement.

Sharjah: Pakistan have suffered a jolt ahead of their third Test match against England as their strike bowler Imran Khan has been ruled out for ten days after he injured his right hand.
Imran had claimed four wickets in the second Test in Dubai. The Pakistan team must have been looking forward to him to get early breakthroughs in Sharjah. Alas, the bowler was rushed to hospital after splitting the webbing on his right hand while attempting a catch during net practice.
Now that he has been ruled out, Rahat Ali, the left-arm fast bowler who played in the first Test in Abu Dhabi, is the likely replacement.
Meanwhile, Zulfiqur Babar while speaking on the sidelines of the team's training session said, he is enjoying bowling in tandem with Yasir Shah.
"It was difficult to be without Yasir in the first Test so definitely I missed him. But (Shoaib) Malik also bowled well and in the second Test in Dubai Yasir came back and I enjoyed bowling with him.
"I got comfortable as at times he contained and I attacked and then he attacked and I contained. You only get success when you contain," said the spinner.
Talking about the England batsmen, he said, "It's tough because England are well prepared for us so we have to use our variety. "It was tough to get (Alastair) Cook and (Joe) Root in the first Test but then I realised that we can get the left-hander by bowling in the rough and that gave me success.
"England have come here well prepared. They employed (Mahela) Jayawardene as batting consultant so they must have learnt good things from him so we need to be one step ahead of them to get more success."
clareto@khaleejtimes.com