In a blow to Pakistan, batter Fakhar Zaman has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy after playing just one match—against New Zealand on Feb 19 in Karachi. The batter had suffered an injury during the first over of the tournament and was taken for scans. The development was reported by ICC in a media release on Thursday (Feb 20).

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Pakistan have named Imam ul Haq as Zaman's replacement for the tournament, and the same has been approved by the ICC Event Technical Committee as well.

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Imam has played 72 ODIs for Pakistan with last of it coming in October 2023 (ODI World Cup) against South Africa. He has scored  3,138 runs those ODIs at an average of 48 with nine tons and 20 fifties. His highest in ODIs is 151.

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Fakhar Zaman injury

Zaman suffered the injury on a shot by Will Young, who drove Shaheen Afridi through the covers in the very first over. Zaman, while trying to stop the ball, seemed to have hurt his left side rib area and was forced off the field two balls into the match. The boundary, however, was saved.

"Fakhar Zaman is being assessed and examined for a muscular sprain, and further updates will be provided in due course," said the PCB in a statement shortly after the batter had left the field.

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Zaman returned to the field eventually but didn't bat as an opener when Pakistan started the chase. He was clearly not at his best while batting and Rizwan admitted that losing him as the opener was crucial. Fakhar scored 24 off 41 balls during his stay.

"Let's see what the result from the [scan] is. Losing Fakhar Zaman [as opener] was crucial," said skipper Rizwan after the match, which Pakistan lost by 60 runs.