Pakistan have potentially been handed a major headache in the ongoing Asia Cup with injuries to two of their premier fast bowlers in Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah.

Rauf was ruled out of bowling on the reserve day of the India-Pakistan Super Fours clash after complaining of a side strain, while Naseem had to walk off mid-over holding his bowling hand against India. Pakistan have had to name backups in the form of Shahnawaz Dahani and Zaman Khan as a precautionary measure.

While Rauf and Naseem have not been officially ruled out of the Asia Cup, with the World Cup being less than a month away, Pakistan would like to tread cautiously with their fitness. Their next Asia Cup game is against Sri Lanka on September 14 (Thursday) followed by the final (if they qualify) on September 17 (Sunday).

Even if Rauf and Naseem are back to 100 per cent fitness or close to that, Pakistan would ideally want to rest them and give the back-up options in the squad a go.

Against India, Pakistan played four seamers with Shaheen Afridi and Faheem Ashraf being the other two apart from Rauf and Naseem. Ashraf did well in his first two games since his ODI comeback this year but was taken to the cleaners against India, as was almost every Pakistan bowler.

In the absence of Rauf and Naseem, Ashraf’s role as a seam-bowling all-rounder will become more important. In his comeback game in the third ODI of the three-match series against Afghanistan just before the Asia Cup, Ashraf bowled five overs in the first powerplay and got the two big wickets of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran. He has experience of bowling with the new ball and might replace Naseem to partner Afridi up front.

The only seamer in the original squad who has not yet featured in the XI for Pakistan is Mohammad Wasim. With injuries to Rauf and Naseem, he is now almost certain to get a go as the third seamer.

Wasim has been in decent form in ODIs this year, having taken nine wickets from seven games at an economy rate of 5.20. While he has the goods to bowl in all phases of the innings, his slingy action makes him best suited to utilise any reverse swing on offer and bowl in the later half of the innings.

If Pakistan decide to go back to their three seamers-two spinners combination, Dahani and Zaman, the two seamers added to the squad as backups to Rauf and Naseem, might have to wait their turn. However, if they continue with the same balance that they used against India, where they left out Mohammad Nawaz to accommodate the fourth seamer, then Dahani and Zaman will compete for one spot.

Dahani has played two ODIs while Zaman is yet to make his ODI debut. Both have a bit more T20I experience, with Dahani having played 11 T20Is for Pakistan and Zaman having played six.

Dahani and Zaman bring different skill sets to the table. While the former is more of a traditional fast bowler with a high-arm action, the latter has made his name thanks to his slingy, Lasith Malinga-like action that batters find hard to pick.

Pakistan can also play both Dahani and Zaman in the XI given they have only one game left before the final, for which they might not qualify. With Wasim and Ashraf being firmly in their plans for the World Cup as seam-bowling all-rounders, Pakistan could use their Super Fours match against Sri Lanka as a shoot-off between Dahani and Zaman to determine who would be their No.1 backup.

Among the other seam bowling options that Pakistan had to replace Rauf and Naseem were Ihsanullah, Mohammad Hasnain, and Hasan Ali.

Ihsanlluah broke through in the Pakistan Super League earlier this year as a tall, tearaway quick and was fast-tracked into the national set-up. He made his ODI debut against New Zealand in April this year, but is currently injured and not available for selection.

Hasnain last played an ODI in January. He has a total of nine ODIs under his belt, but Pakistan have decided to go ahead with the X-factor pick in the form of Zaman. Ali, on the other hand, seems to have been discarded from ODI plans, having last played the format in June last year.

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