The extent of Rauf’s injury is not clear. After feeling pain, on Sunday, he was taken for an MRI scan in the evening. Those scans are thought to be clear, but because he was still feeling some pain, the decision was taken to not field him on Monday. If the match resumes, though there is more rain forecast on the reserve day, Pakistan have to make do with the three pace options in Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Faheem Ashraf, with Shadab Khan their lead spinner and a combination of Iftikhar Ahmed and Agha Salman’s part-time offspin.
Rauf bowled five wicketless overs and conceded 27 runs on Sunday but brought some sense of control to an innings in which India’s openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill scored half-centuries and put on 121 in a flying start. Pakistan fought back to dismiss both and control the run rate but India were 147 on board for the loss of two wickets.
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