Vernon Philander: “We advised him to eliminate a bit of swing because once you are looking for swing, then you are offering a little bit of width which comes with its own issues”
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Former South Africa pace bowler Vernon Philander revealed that he advised Pakistan seamer Haris Rauf to “eliminate a bit of swing”.
Philander worked with the Pakistan team as a bowling consultant during the 2021 T20 World Cup and noticed that Rauf felt that he had to swing the ball when he was brought on to bowl.
However, the Proteas icon told Rauf to utilise his “quick bouncer” and “good back of a length ball”.
“The problem he had when I worked with him was in bowling the first over after the powerplay as I felt that he didn’t know how to go about it,” he told PakPassion.
“So, we sat down with him and told him that his strength was the ability to bowl a quick bouncer and also bowling a good back of a length ball.
“With him coming after the new ball bowlers, he always felt that he had to swing the ball, but we advised him to eliminate a bit of swing because once you are looking for swing, then you are offering a little bit of width which comes with its own issues.”
In the recent series against Australia, Rauf claimed five wickets in three ODIs at an average of 28.
He then recorded figures of 1-35 off 3.1 overs in the one-off T20 International, which Pakistan lost by three wickets.
The 28-year-old is now representing Yorkshire in the County Championship and has picked up 14 wickets in three games at an average of 26.42.