Australia vs Pakistan: Pakistan have another concerning news to deal with as their spinner Noman Ali is the latest casualty and has been ruled out of the remainder of the Test series against Australia.
He was diagnosed with acute appendicitis after complaining of "sudden and severe" abdominal pain, according to a statement put out by the PCB.
He was admitted to the hospital and spent Friday night there after scans confirmed the diagnosis.
"Noman Ali complained of sudden and severe abdominal pain yesterday, leading to examinations and scans in an emergency that confirmed a diagnosis of acute appendicitis," a PCB release issued on Saturday (December 23) stated. "On Surgeon advice; he underwent Laparoscopic Appendectomy today in the morning. Post surgery he is stable and doing fine."
The unfortunate development has only weakened the Pakistan squad which now only features one fit frontline spinner in Sajid Khan.
Sajid himself was flown in after lead spinner Abrar Ahmed picked up an injury in the tour game.
Pakistan fielded a side without a frontline spinner in the first match at Perth where they suffered a heavy defeat of 360 runs.
Later it was revealed that Noman was unavailable for selection as he was recovering from a finger injury that prevented him from fielding and batting.
Pakistan, who have lost each of their last 15 Tests in Australia, will also be without the seamer Khurram Shahzad heading forward as he was ruled two days back with a rib stress fracture.
The visitors are already missing the service of Naseem Shah, who picked up a shoulder injury at the Asia Cup and also missed the World Cup in India.
On the other hand, Haris Rauf opted out of this tour which forced the Pakistan team to pair the premiium pacer Shaheen Afridi with a couple of debutants, Aamer Jamal and Shahzad - in the opening Test.
Things seem to have gone from bad to worse for Pakistan as they continue to suffer blows both on and off the field and will be low on confidence after that embarrassing defeat in the first match.
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It will be interesting to see whether they have enough firepower to bounce back in the three-match Test series. They have backup seamers like Hasan Ali, Mir Hamza, and Mohammad Wasim Jr.
The second match of the series will begin on Tuesday, December 26 in Melbourne.