At the start of the second test match in South Africa, Pakistan was given a scare in the form of batsman Saim Ayub injuring his ankles. It was a bad injury as he had to be stretchered off after it.
The extent of the injury is not yet known and he has been taken to a hospital for treatment. On the field, it looked like he was unable to put weight on his right ankle. He also appeared to have tears in his eyes after the injury occurred.
His injury occurred in the seventh over of the game when Ryan Rickelton edged on through the slips and Saim had to chase it along with Aamer Jamal. Jamal pulled the ball back and Ayub was there as a relay fielder. However, Ayub lost his balance, twisted his ankle, and went down immediately. Immediately after the injury, he was in anguish.
The physio rushed to him for treatment. The Physio treated Saim out of the boundary line for quite a while. Ultimately, he has to be stretchered off to the dressing room.
The replacement of Saim in the field, Abdullah Shafique, dropped a simple chance of Aiden Markram at cover. However, Markram got out to Khurram Shahzad just after a few overs. So, the dropped catch did not prove to be costly.
Despite getting the wicket, the Pakistan team did not celebrate too loudly as they recognized the significant blow to the team in the form of Saim.
Saim Ayub has been one of the key Pakistan players in the series as he was awarded the Player of the Series award in the recently concluded ODI series when Pakistan beat South Africa 3-0. He scored two centuries in three games.
This loss is going to be costly for Pakistan as he is an all-format player in the country.