KARACHI, Jan 8: In a dramatic U-turn on Monday, the Pakistan team management in Kimberley sent an SOS for the previously out-of-favour fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar to join the squad in South Africa after a confirmation on young pacer Umar Gul’s ankle injury was received earlier in the day.

According to Dr Nasim Ashraf, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman, the move to fly Shoaib out was taken after chief selector Wasim Bari spoke to him on Monday evening and conveyed the tour management committee’s request that a replacement for injured Umar be sent forthwith.

Bari, who returned a couple of days ago after performing Hajj, received a fax message from the tour management committee in which it was revealed that doctors on the South Africa tour had diagnosed Umar Gul with an ankle injury and ruled him out from competitive cricket for at least three weeks.

Shoaib, when contacted by Dawn, said that that he will be joining the squad in South Africa on the eve of the three-Test series which commences at Centurion on Thursday. “Despite my best efforts, I could not get an early flight for Centurion and will now be reaching South Africa sometime late Wednesday evening,” Shoaib, sounding ecstatic over the latest development, said from Islamabad.

“I am absolutely fit and raring to go against Graeme Smith’s men. There’s nothing that I enjoy more than representing my country,” he added.

Meanwhile, reports filtering in from South Africa suggested that apart from Umar Gul, all-rounder Shoaib Malik has also been sidelined for several weeks with a serious ankle injury.

It was for this reason, perhaps, that the tour management committee — comprising skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, coach Bob Woolmer and team manager Talat Ali — also requested for lanky paceman Shabbir Ahmed to be flown out since he is also eligible for selection now after his one-year ICC ban was lifted last month.

The PCB hierarchy, however, has decided to send only Shoaib for the time being.

Shoaib, 31, made an encouraging return to first-class cricket with five wickets for Islamabad against Abbottabad in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Silver League match on Sunday.

According to the PCB chief, both Umar Gul and Shoaib Malik were expected to remain in South Africa.

Sources told Dawn on Monday that the injury to Umar Gul is far more serious than what has been revealed over the past 24 hours. The 24-year-old fast bowler, who bowled just three overs against Rest of South Africa in the drawn game at Kimberley, has been Pakistan’s leading paceman with 36 wickets in the last nine Tests.

Sources say that Umar is probably suffering from a stress fracture of the shin and is unlikely to take any further part on the challenging tour. It has also been learnt that during the three-day training-cum-conditioning camp in Lahore prior to the South Africa tour, Umar didn’t bowl a single delivery which raised speculations about his well-being.

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, however, remained optimistic. “He (Umar) has consulted a doctor who thinks it (the injury) is nothing more than strained ligaments.”

The coach further said: “We will have a further scan to eliminate the chances of bruising to the bone. But he should be fine for the first Test.”

It is fairly obvious that with quite a few injury problems at hand, Pakistan face a real tough task against the buoyant South Africans who came from behind to beat India 2-1 in the series which concluded on Saturday. To compound their woes, key batsman Mohammad Yousuf has also opted out of the first Test due to his wife’s illness and is unlikely to make the squad for the second Test at Port Elizabeth also which starts on Jan 23.

Yousuf, who broke Viv Richards’ long-standing record of most Test runs in a calendar year when he piled up a staggering 1,788 runs in 2006, was expected to fly out to South Africa on Monday but was forced to alter his plans in view of his wife’s surgery which is now scheduled between Jan 12 and 21.

Yousuf has also indicated that he wanted to spend time with his wife and in case if he misses the second Test, then there is every possibility of him skipping the final Test as well. That Test in Cape Town begins from Jan 26.