Umar who was expected to replace calamitous gloveman Kamran Akmal – his elder brother – missed yet another training session here at Pallekele because of a finger injury. The 20-year-old did turn up for an optional training session but didn’t take part in the nets, raising doubts over his chances of playing in Monday’s match against Zimbabwe.

“We haven’t taken a decision yet,” said Pakistan manager Intikhab Alam, whether Umar will keep the wickets for Pakistan against Zimbabwe. “The thing is that he bruised his right index finger two days back and it is painful which is why he can’t wear the 'keeping gloves,” he added.

Pakistan had made up their mind to axe Kamran after he gave New Zealand’s Ross Taylor a double reprieve in the same over in their last game here on Tuesday. Taylor, who was struggling for form, went on to smash an unbeaten 131 to lead the Black Caps to a 110-run triumph.

The very next day, Pakistan officials said that they were mulling over the option of axing Kamran and giving the wicketkeeping responsibilities to Umar, who has done that job for the national team in the past.

But Umar injured his finger during fielding practice at the Asgiriya Stadium on Thursday and hasn’t trained since then.

The timing of his injury raised suspicions as Umar was accused of feigning a back injury last year when Pakistan were planning to drop Kamran after his horror show behind the stumps in the Sydney Test. Kamran dropped Michael Hussey three times and also squandered a run-out opportunity as the Aussies came back from the jaws of defeat to snatch a stunning victory.

However, Intikhab rejected the impression that Umar could be feigning an injury again. “It is a genuine problem. He did bruise his finger and though there is no fracture the pain is there.”

Intikhab said that if Umar fails to recover in time then he will have to sit out of the match against Zimbabwe and that Kamran will have to be retained as the ‘keeper. “In such a scenario, we won’t have any other choice,” he told Arab News.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Shehzad is set to be replaced by Asad Shafiq as Pakistan’s opener for Monday’s game. Ahmed has flopped miserably in all four of Pakistan’s outings. Asad, who is yet to get a game in this tournament, is now expected to open the innings with Mohammad Hafeez.

Pakistan carried out a relatively shorter training session here at the Pallekele Stadium on Saturday. After a lengthy outing on Friday at the Asgiriya stadium, six of Pakistan’s leading players decided against taking part in the ‘optional’ session.

Skipper Shahid Afridi, vice-captain Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul and Mohammad Hafeez decided to take a day off.

Apart from Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan was the only senior player who opted to make use of Saturday’s training session. The former Pakistan captain who started his World Cup with a bang with impressive fifties against Kenya and Sri Lanka last month has failed to score big in Pakistan’s last two games against Canada and New Zealand.

Younis spent the longest time in the nets as he faced both fast bowlers and spinners after playing a brief game of football with his teammates.