PSL 2019: Elbow injury rules Steve Smith out of the tournament

Former Australia captain Steve Smith must have been looking forward to 2019 for this year will see his year-long ban imposed in the wake of the Sandpapergate scandal last year coming to an end. But Smith’s New Year did not start well as far as fitness is concerned since an injury in the elbow saw him getting ruled out of a number of franchise cricket tournaments – the only format he has been playing over the last 10 months.

The 29-year-old batting all-rounder suffered the injury while playing for Comilla Victorians in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and had to fly back home after playing in just two matches in which he could not produce anything magical. The Australian underwent tests and has been advised six weeks of rest by the physicians which means he will not only be out of the ongoing BPL but also the Pakistan Super League (PSL) which is due to be played between February and March.

Big blow for Multan Sultans

The news about Smith’s ruling out of the PSL was confirmed by Pak Passion, mentioning he will undergo a surgery on January 15 to repair a right elbow ligament and is likely to be “in a brace” for six weeks followed by an extensive rehabilitation.

Smith was supposed to play in the PSL for the Multan Sultans but only in the leg to be played in the United Arab Emirates and not Pakistan. It means that even if Smith had been fit to play the PSL, he would have missed the final league-stage fixture against the Lahore Qalanders in Lahore besides the playoffs and the final provided his team goes that far.

While the news on Smith would disappoint the Sultans since they would have made his plans around the top pick, the injury would also leave the cricketer himself dejected for he is very close to the end of his ban now, along with fellow Australian cricketers David Warner.

Smith has scored over 10,000 runs in international cricket with 31 hundreds besides over 3,300 runs in 164 T20s at a strike rate of 125-plus.

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