Rashid Latif: “All the pace bowlers have shown a drop in speed – Starc, Cummins. Haris Rauf is there, but he has an effective bouncer”
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Rashid Latif said fast bowler Pakistan seamer Haris Rauf’s speed has dropped as of late.
Rauf is capable of bowling at close to 155 kph, but the former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman noted that even though his pace has fallen, the 28-year-old still “has an effective bouncer”.
However, Latif pointed out that it is not just Rauf who has slowed down as the same can be said about the Australia pace duo of Mitchell Starc and Test captain Pat Cummins.
“All the pace bowlers have shown a drop in speed – Starc, Cummins. Haris Rauf is there, but he has an effective bouncer,” Latif said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricwick.
Rauf represented Yorkshire in the County Championship and took 15 wickets in four matches at an average of 31.53.
He also took part in the T20 Blast and picked up four wickets in four games at an average of 27.75 and an economy rate of 7.92.
As for the three-match ODI series against the West Indies, he finished with four wickets in two matches at an average of 26.75.
Rauf didn’t play in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, which Pakistan won by four wickets.
However, he could make his Test debut in the second Test in Galle depending on the severity of left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi’s leg injury.
The second Test begins on July 24.
Pakistan squad for Sri Lanka Tests: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain, wicketkeeper), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood and Yasir Shah