Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday announced that left-arm paceman Rahat Ali would be replacing injured fast bowler Junaid Khan in Pakistan's World Cup final squad.
A spokesman of the board said that the chairman, Shaharyar Khan had approved a request from the tour selection committee to send Rahat for the mega-event. "Rahat will be proceeding to Australia on the recommendation of chief selector Moin Khan," he said.
The inclusion of Rahat means that all-rounder Bilawal Bhatti will be flying back home after a nightmarish match against New Zealand in the second one-day international this week where he conceded 93 runs.
Rahat, 26, who has taken 31 wickets in 11 tests, has played just one 50-overs match way back in June, 2012 against Sri Lanka and went wicketless. He is considered more of a test bowler.
Junaid, Pakistan's most telling bowler in recent times, was ruled out of the World Cup after initially being named in the World Cup squad. After recovering from a knee injury in January he was hit by a hamstring injury during practice just before the team left for New Zealand.
