Pakistan’s World Cup campaign received another blow as their vice-captain Shadab Khan had to leave the field after suffering a freak injury on the third ball of South Africa’s innings in Chennai.

Defending a competitive total of 270, Pakistan came out with the intention of changing things up. Iftikhar Ahmed took the first over as opposed to Shaheen Afridi, who usually does the honours for Pakistan. In fact, this was the first time since 2019 that Afridi didn’t bowl the first over of an ODI he was playing in.

It didn’t start well for Pakistan as the very first ball was fired down the leg side by Iftikhar, resulting in five wides. That was a sign of things to come as two balls later, Temba Bavuma pushed a back of length ball towards mid-on where Shadab was fielding.

In an attempt to run Bavuma out, Shadab attacked the ball and threw it towards the non-striker’s end off balance, landing awkwardly on his shoulder in the process. As his shoulder touched the ground, his head seemed to jerk into the turf as well. The physios rushed on with a stretcher brought on as the injury looked serious. However, to the relief of Pakistan fans, Shadab stood up after a while and walked off the field gingerly, with several people by his side.

There were some indications that Shadab would retake the field, with the all-rounder seen warming up by the side of the playing area. However, he was later ruled out and replaced in the XI by leg-spinner Usama Mir as a like-for-like concussion sub.