Ian Bishop: “The next 12 months is a great opportunity for Haris Rauf to climb into the top 10 rankings in two white ball formats”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Ian Bishop, the former West Indies pace bowler, said he sees Pakistan speedster Haris Rauf breaking into the top 10 bowlers in ODIs and T20Is in the next 12 months.
Rauf is currently ranked 23rd on the ODI bowling rankings and 11th in T20Is.
Considering that he is now a key part of Pakistan’s pace attack and possesses serious pace, which often surpasses the 150 kph mark, Bishop believes that the 29-year-old will be right up there with the best of the best in no time at all.
“The next 12 months is a great opportunity for Haris Rauf to climb into the top 10 rankings in two white ball formats,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Rauf didn’t play in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka, but did take five wickets in two ODIs against Afghanistan at an average of 13.20.
Most recently, he was in action in the Asia Cup and finished with nine wickets in four games at an average of 13.33.
Pakistan started the tournament in brutal fashion as they annihilated Nepal by 238 runs before sharing one point apiece with India as their match was rained off.
Having made it through to the Super Fours, the men in green cruised past Bangladesh by seven wickets.
Their unbeaten run was subsequently ended in their next match against India as they lost by 228 runs.
Pakistan still had a chance to progress to the Asia Cup final, but they ended up losing to Sri Lanka by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method.
Rauf suffered a right flank injury during the loss to India, but he is expected to make a full recovery prior to the start of the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 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: Tayyab Tahir
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