Rashid Khan and Chris Lynn both went down with hamstring injuries last night to leave their clubs sweating on a Christmas miracle
Xmas hammies: Strikers, Heat sweat on superstars' fitness
Brisbane Heat and Adelaide Strikers will be hopeful of Christmas miracles with regards to their respective T20 superstars Chris Lynn and Rashid Khan, who are both set to have scans today on injured hamstrings.
Lynn injured his left hamstring in the warm-up and was subsequently ruled out of last night's KFC BBL clash at the Gabba, which the Strikers won by two runs, while Rashid limped off the field late in the contest clutching his right leg.
The Afghan spin whiz, who has a history of hamstring injuries, will fly back to Adelaide with the squad today, and will likely undergo scans in the afternoon, with the Strikers' next encounter – against the Scorchers at Adelaide Oval – just four days away.
In the past two seasons, the leg-spinner has been his side's top wicket-taker and he was at it again against the Heat last night, taking 2-30 from his four overs.
Oh no. Rashid Khan has walked off the Gabba after appearing to hurt his hamstring. Fingers crossed it's not too bad #BBL10 pic.twitter.com/eSNQnXAn6h— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 23, 2020
Lynn has one fewer day to prove his fitness, with the Heat returning to the Gabba on December 27 to take on the Hurricanes as part of a five-match sequence across the next fortnight.
The winless Brisbane side will be desperate to have their skipper and the all-time leading BBL run-scorer back bolstering a relatively inexperienced batting order.
"It doesn't look good – hopefully it's not as bad as it looked," said Heat wicketkeeper-batsman Jimmy Peirson, who stood in as captain and shone with 69no on Wednesday night.
"That's really a tough one for us – he's our best batter, he's our leader, so hopefully we can get him back as soon as possible. Problem is, it's a short tournament and we need him back as soon as we can."
Lynn's injury ended a run of 31 consecutive matches for the Heat for the explosive right-hander, who has been his side's leading run-scorer for each of the past two seasons.
Yet Peirson insisted the struggling Heat squad is capable of pulling together without their captain and resurrecting a season that has to date produced three defeats from as many matches.
"He's our best player, no doubt about it, but we've got enough personnel to get the job done," he said.
"We'll click. It's funny, sometimes when your best player goes out you have to make the most of what you've got, and that can bring a team together.
"I believe that this team can do that. Obviously we're going to miss his leadership and what he can do out there as well, but we have to move on – we haven't got time to dwell; we've got five games in quick succession, so we'll get ourselves together, regroup … and I'm backing us to win some games."