Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez was ruled out of the current National T20 Championship on Wednesday after getting dengue, and he is also uncertain for the next T20 World Cup in the UAE.
Hafeez, who will turn 41 next month, is presently receiving treatment at his home in Lahore, and it remains to be seen whether he will be ready for the major ICC tournament, which begins on October 17.
“It depends on the severity of the dengue virus that one has caught, but certainly, it is a sickness that leaves one very weak, and it takes about a month to regenerate platelets and make a full recovery,” a local doctor explained.
According to a credible source within the Pakistan Cricket Board, the board’s medical panel was in contact with Hafeez and was keeping a careful eye on his treatment and recuperation.
Hafeez first complained of food sickness while staying at the team hotel in Rawalpindi for the first leg of the National Championship, but when his health did not improve, he travelled to Lahore, where he was diagnosed with dengue.
After Shoaib Malik, Hafeez is Pakistan’s most senior player, having played in 55 Tests, 218 ODIs, and 113 T20 internationals.
His recent form has been poor, but he was considered an automatic selection for the World Cup after hitting a tonne of runs in T20 internationals in late 2019 and 2020, since the previous skipper has now retired from Tests and ODIs.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has set October 10 as the deadline for World Cup participant teams to make changes to their declared squads.
Teams are also permitted to bring travelling reserves to the event at their own expense, although the ICC only pays for 15 players and eight officials per team.
Hafeez recently clashed with the PCB after being ordered to cancel his contract with the Guyana franchise and come home from the Caribbean Premier League early.
The scenario did not sit well with the former captain, who was given until September 12 to return to Lahore or face being withdrawn from the World Cup squad.
The board had already issued NOCs to all players to participate in the CPL and report back by September 17 for the home series against New Zealand.