Injury rules Asif out of first three ODIs

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Pakistan Cricket captain Shoaib Malik is received by officials on his arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India Thursday.

Mohammad Asif will miss at least the first three matches of the ODI series against India with a long-standing elbow problem, the Pakistan board announced on the day of the team's departure to Delhi, according to website cricinfo.
Asif missed four of the five ODIs against South Africa last month because of his right elbow injury and has not recovered sufficiently to play against India. Due to the uncertain nature of the injury, the extent of his participation in the ODIs remains in doubt and a replacement has not yet been sought.
"He felt pain in the elbow after the Multan ODI [against South Africa, on October 26]. We don't know the extent of the injury," Shafqat Naghmi, the Pakistan board's chief operating officer, said. "He may be fit enough to go to India after three matches so we haven't yet announced a replacement as there are four fast bowlers in the squad anyway."
The elbow injury has lately plagued what has been an outstanding start to Asif's international career. Last year, he missed three Tests against England and the problem flared up during the tour to South Africa in January this year. Some contend it is linked to the often heavy workload Asif has carried out in Tests.
Naghmi said the problem was a rare one. "It is not something that happens a lot. Surgery will not resolve it, nor will medicine. He just needs to strengthen the muscles around the elbow area.
"It's a big loss," Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik said. "We will try to overcome the loss and hope that it would not affect the team's performance in the series."
The pull-out is the latest in a series of late withdrawals by the bowler: along with Shoaib Akhtar, the pair was pulled out from the World Cup squad at the last minute earlier this year. And last year, a day before the Champions Trophy in India, Asif - and Shoaib again - were called back to Pakistan a day before their opening match against Sri Lanka, after dope tests revealed traces of an anabolic steroid.
Pakistan's pace attack remains a potentially strong one even without Asif. Rao Iftikhar Anjum ended the recent ODI series against South Africa as the joint-highest wicket-taker and a much-improved first-change option. Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir were not as consistent, though they bowled well in patches. But Asif's absence places the heaviest burden on Shoaib, who returned to international cricket on Monday.
AP adds: India's cricket board will ask its government toloosen a restriction that will see just 250 tickets per match sold to Pakistani fans for the five-match limited overs cricket series against India beginning next week.
Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, said Thursday that the allocation was too small and the board would ask for more tickets for traveling Pakistani fans. "Our president will also meet with the (Indian) foreign minister" Shah said.
During the Indian team's tour of Pakistan in 2006, thousands of Indians were allowed to travel to Pakistan to watch the series which is fiercely contested between the longtime rivals. The Indian foreign ministry officials could not be immediately reached for comments.