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Now, I can say, that the Pakistan team is in real trouble ahead of the World Cup Cricket 2007. Earlier, in an article, I wrote on the uncertainty over the participation of two strike bowlers of Pakistan- Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. Now, it is final that these two cricketers are out of the World Cup Cricket 2007 due to their injuries.

 NDTV reported:

The pace duo of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif have been ruled out of the World Cup due to injuries, the Pakistan Cricket Board said on Thursday.
Yasir Arafat and Mohammad Sami will replace Akhtar and Asif.
"On verbal reports from the doctors, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif require more time to become fit," the PCB said in a written statement.
"Hence, the National Selection Committee in consultation with the Team Management has decided that Mohammad Sami and Yasir Arafat would replace Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif for the ICC World Cup 2007," the statement added.
Shoaib and Asif are currently in London undergoing treatment for their injuries but there's no news yet on the scheduled dope tests that were to be conducted on the pacers.

However, sources in the PCB indicated that the withdrawal of the two bowlers had more to do with their having failed private dope tests in London than anything else.

Though it is said that the two bowlers are out of the tournament due to their injuries but there is a speculations that these two players have gone through a private dope test and may be tested positive and that is why, they are not going to take part in World Cup Cricket 2007. Actually, if they are proved positive in the official test of ICC, which is mandatory for all the players going to participate in this world cup, they may be banned form international cricket. However, PCB rejected such speculations.

The report also said:

PCB Chairman Nasim Ashraf, however, rejected the speculations of the secret dope tests as propaganda against Pakistan.
Ashraf also said that the injuries would take two weeks to heal and had they pushed Akhtar and Asif into service immediately, it might have threatened their careers.
PCB World Cup spokesman Pervez Mir issued a similar denial, adding that for the Board it was now a closed chapter. Both pacers are currently in London seeking medical opinion on their respective injuries.

I think that ICC should go through the matter seriously and find out the reason of their not joining to the World Cup Cricket 2007. However, it is really a bad news for the Pakistani team as both of them are match winners and are capable of dominating over the batsmen. I am not so optimistic about the two replaced bowlers- Yasir Arafat and Mohammad Sami and I think it would not be possible to fill out the places of Shoaib and Asif at this moment.

What do you think about it?