Gul sent for scan on hamstring

Pakistan's problems were compounded on the second afternoon at Edgbaston as Umar Gul was sent for an MRI scan on a hamstring injury, and was ruled out of contention for the rest of the match - amid fears that he will be forced to miss the remaining two Tests at The Oval and Lord's as well.

Gul suffered the injury while running in to bowl the first ball of his fourth over of the day. He pulled up in his delivery stride and immediately turned to walk off the field, clutching his right leg, leaving the over to be bowled by Umar Amin.

"Gul has gone for an MRI, he has a torn hamstring," said Yawar Saeed, Pakistan's manager. "He will play no further part in this match."

"I haven't spoken to the doctor as yet," said Pakistan's captain, Salman Butt. "All that I know is that it is a hamstring problem. He wasn't available today and we still got seven or eight wickets. If we had held the chances that come our way we would have been pretty well off. But obviously he is a very important part of our bowling line-up and we wish he is okay quickly."

If the injury is as serious as feared, then Gul will be looking at an injury lay-off of two to four weeks, leaving him out of contention for the third Test at The Oval which starts on August 18, and a serious doubt for the series finale at Lord's on August 26.

With four wickets in the series to date at 31.50, in addition to a key role in the drawn two-match rubber against Australia last month, Gul has formed part of an incisive three-prong seam attack that has been Pakistan's redeeming feature on a difficult tour. However, the challenge of playing six Tests in the space of seven weeks was always likely to claim casualties among the squad's pacemen.

"It is very understandable because it is a lot of cricket," said Butt. "We've come straight to the World Cup [World Twenty20], gone to the Asia Cup, come over here, played a few side games. The day we arrived, the next day we played, and the next day we played. It's been a tough tour and the boys have done really well up to now.

If Gul is ruled out, then his likely replacement would be the 25-year-old left-arm seamer Wahab Riaz, who has played five ODIs and one Twenty20 international, but has yet to make his Test debut.