Mohammad Amir: “Wahab might be Haris’s personal favorite, and I think if his opinion matters, then there’s nothing wrong with it”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Mohammad Amir has insisted that he is in no way offended by the fact that Pakistan seamer Haris Rauf rated Wahab Riaz as a better bowler than him.
He noted that Rauf is entitled to his opinion and made it clear “there’s nothing wrong with it.”
Amir was once a rising star in Pakistan cricket and stole the spotlight as a teenager since he was ripping through some of the top international batsmen all over the world.
However, the 31-year-old from Gujjar Khan saw his career go up in smoke when he was indicted in a spot-fixing scandal in 2010 and banned for five years.
While he ended up making a comeback, he never really hit the same highs as prior to his ban. That said, he did have a few brilliant performances that showed he was still a quality bowler.
Wahab, meanwhile, had been a stalwart of Pakistan cricket and was once a vital member of the pace attack.
A dangerous wicket-taker at his peak, he was a highly impressive bowler who achieved a lot throughout his career.
While he had been trying to make an international comeback since his last game in December 2020, he ultimately wasn’t able to do so and ended up announcing his retirement from international cricket in August 2023.
“Wahab might be Haris’s personal favorite, and I think if his opinion matters, then there’s nothing wrong with it,” Amir was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Rauf, who has been in excellent form with the ball lately, didn’t play in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka, but did pick up five wickets in two ODIs against Afghanistan at an average of 13.20.
In the Asia Cup, he continued to shine as he claimed nine wickets in four matches at an average of 13.33.
Pakistan started their campaign on a high as they hammered Nepal by 238 runs before sharing one point apiece with India as their match was rained off.
Despite this, the men in green made it through to the Super Four stage and pummelled Bangladesh by seven wickets.
However, their unbeaten run was ended when they took on India again as the men in blue demolished them by 228 runs.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Rauf was diagnosed with a right flank injury after that match and didn’t feature in the must-win fixture against Sri Lanka, which Pakistan lost by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method. This resulted in them being eliminated from the tournament.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup:Â Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zaman Khan.
Travelling reserve:Â Tayyab Tahir