Mohammad Sami likely to replace Umar Gul for World T20

LAHORE – As the Pakistan Cricket Board selection chief considers to bring in Mohammad Sami, injured Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul hopes to be fit in time for the upcoming ICC World T20 Championship in West Indies.
Chief selector Mohsin Khan, however, said that he had backed the selection of Mohammad Sami to replace Gul.
Mohsin had a word with coach Waqar Younis about the status of the injury of the player and said that MRI report of Gul will be finalized by the end of the week which would reveal the true nature of the problem. Gul injured his shoulder during the training camp here and Yasser Arafat had a calf injury.
However, Moshin said that the final decision of replacement would be taken after the proper assessment of the injury.
On Gul’s replacements, Mohsin said that the Board has five players in back up but he believed Sami was the best available option to replace Gul.
On Arafat, Mohsin said: “He hasn’t bowled a single over during the ongoing training camp.”
On the other hand Umar Akmal became the fourth player to get injured at the national squad’s preparatory camp.
A side strain has kept the Pakistan batsman out of net sessions at the camp here, putting him on the recovery list alongside Gul, as well as Fawad Alam and Yasir Arafat who face minor injury worries.
However, skipper Shahid Afridi is confident that all of his players will recover in three weeks before Pakistan launch their defence of their World Twenty20 crown.
Umar Gul is Pakistan’s most successful bowler in the World T20 and the leading wicket taker in this format of the game. However, Gul’s recent form has not been all that great as he struggle to find his rhythm and pace as well as his accuracy while bowling Yorkers.
Afridi, Pakistan’s T20 skipper, has backed his top fast bowler saying that he if was ruled out, this would be a major blow to Pakistan’s campaign in the tournament as pitches in the Caribbean suit his style of bowling and ball would start to reverse early in the innings.
Gul, however, pointed out that he was confident of recovery in time and get a green signal from the team physio before the important tournament starting April 30.

Source: http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Sports/14-Apr-2010/Mohammad-Sami-likely-to-replace-Umar-Gul-for-World-T20