Inzamam down with flu as team recovers from jet-lag](http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=45419)
KARACHI: With skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq down with influenza virus, Pakistani cricketers on Saturday began to overcome jet-lag and warmed-up for a practice game against Canada on March 6 in Trinidad, writes Khalid Hussain.
Inzamam stayed away from a few swimming sessions and light exercises in the team hotel in Trinidad, a day after the team landed in the Caribbean island to launch its World Cup campaign.
“Inzamam is suffering from flu but it is nothing serious. He should be fit in the next couple of days,” the team’s media manager PJ Mir told this correspondent in a telephonic conversation from Trinidad.
He said that Inzamam and other players were suffering from jet-lag which is why team coach Bob Woolmer decided against any net practice on Saturday and allowed the players to carry out light physical exercises and told them to go swimming.
“Apart from Inzamam’s flu, everything is perfectly fine for us and we are all looking forward to the warm-up game against Canada,” said Mir.
Pakistan would play the first of their two pre-World Cup games against the Canadians at the Frank Worrell Memorial Ground in Trinidad on Tuesday. They are also scheduled to meet South Africa in another practice match on March 9 before their opening World Cup game against the West Indies on March 13.
Mir said that the team management is expecting that the remaining two members of Pakistan’s 15-man squad ñ fast bowler Mohammad Sami and all-rounder Yasir Arafat would join the team in the next couple of days.
“We are still awaiting clearance from the ICC for the two players as soon as we get it, Sami and Arafat would be sent here,” he said. The Pakistan management is hoping that the two players can land in Trinidad ahead of the warm-up game against Canada.
Sami and Arafat replaced key fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif recently. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), citing injuries to the two players, withdrew Shoaib and Asif from the squad. According to International Cricket Council (ICC) rules, injured players can only be replaced with the approval of the World Cup technical committee.