Gul unlikely to play Asia Cup as management wants him fully fit for England tour

Karachi, May 27 (ANI): Injured Pakistan speedster Umar Gul's chances of playing in the Asia Cup, which would be held in Sri Lanka from June 15-24, appear to be dim as he has been advised to get himself fully fit for the exhaustive tour of England in July.

Pakistan cricket management has told Gul, who missed the World T20 Championship due to a shoulder injury, not to hurry up his recovery programme in order to play the Asia Cup, as he would be needed more for the England tour.

Gul has been asked to target the 'home' series against England and Australia, during which Pakistan would play six Tests, five One-day Internationals and four Twenty20 games from July to September, for making a comeback.

Newly appointed Test skipper Shahid Afridi also said that he had asked Gul, who has played 26 Tests and 69 one-day internationals, to get fit on time for the England tour, The News reports.

"Gul is one of our key players and we want him to get fit as soon as possible. It's unfortunate that he is unlikely to play in the Asia Cup but I'm sure that he would be fully fit for the tour of England," Afridi said.

"I've told him that he should take his time to recover from the injury because we want him to be fully fit for the matches against Australia and England," he added. (ANI)