MELBOURNE: Pakistan batsman Shan Masood was taken for scans on Friday after being hit on the head during a practice session ahead of the team’s first match at the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia.

Pakistan will begin their campaign against arch-rivals India in Melbourne on Sunday. The team got the injury scare as it prepared for the game, when a stray shot from Mohammad Nawaz struck Masood on the head and left him lying flat on the ground.

“He passed the tests taken by our physio. He has gone to the hospital for scans and we pray that he stays fully fit,” vice-captain Shadab Khan told reporters.

The 33-year-old Masood is regarded as a technically sound top-order batsman and has hit two half-centuries for Pakistan in 12 T20s since his debut in September.

Images posted on social media showed Pakistan players and team staff surrounding Masood, and a distraught Nawaz sitting on his knees.

The Babar Azam-led Pakistan beat India in last year’s T20 World Cup, where they reached the semi-finals.