‘Please usko phone karo, vo tumhari baat zyada maanta hai’: Pakistan greats argue over Haris Rauf’s performance vs India
Pakistan had faced a five-wicket defeat to India in their opening game of Asia Cup 2022, and will meet Hong Kong in a virtual knock-out match on Friday night. The side was bowled out on 147 against Rohit Sharma‘s men, and conceded the target with two balls remaining. The Pakistan opening order had failed to make a mark in the game and consequently, the middle-order didn’t turn up for the side as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya ran through the lineup.
During their bowling, Pakistan bowler Naseem Shah and wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan faced cramps, with the former failing to make a strong impact due to pain in the final overs. However, former Pakistan star Sikander Bakht, in a debate on Geo Super, also pointed out that pacer Haris Rauf failed to nail the yorkers and instead went for short-pitched deliveries, that remained a major problem for the side.
Aaqib Javed, who has worked closely with Haris Rauf since 2018 at Pakistan Super League franchise, however, defended the pacer from Bakht’s criticism.
“He bowled two bad deliveries. But overall, where there is a lot of grass, the best ball is a good length delivery. He did that. But tell me, we saw Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India… but the cramps that we endured.. three (one) bowlers and our wicketkeepers.. how can you expect them to give their best if they are down with cramps? It’s related with your food and water intake,” Aaqib said on the debate.
To this, Bakht pointed out, “Did Haris also suffer cramps?” before adding, “I’m talking about Haris. It’s because he bowls yorkers really well. But he’s gets excited and bowls short-of-the-length balls. He listens to you guys more carefully.”
Aaqib, then, pointed out that bowling alone wasn’t the reason behind Pakistan’s defeat against India, insisting that their over-reliance on the top-3 batters has come to hurt the side.
“Pakistan didn’t lose skill-wise, they lost physically. They endured cramps. And we’ve been talking about it since before too, the batting order is relying on Babar, Rizwan, and Fakhar. If they get out early, the rest of the line-up cannot play out the overs,” said Aaqib.
On being pointed out by the anchor to comment on Haris’ lack of yorkers, Aaib said, “Yorker is his best ball. But it’s effective if the ball is reverse-swinging. If the pitch has grass, there’s not much rough, the ball won’t reverse. Yorker is difficult.”
Sikandar finally concluded the debate with a tongue-in-cheek comment. “Agli match India ke against please usko phone karo, vo tumhari baat zyada maanta hai. (The next time we take on India, please give him a call. He listens to you),” said the former Pakistan cricketer who has represented the side in 26 Tests and 27 ODIs.
