Sanjay Manjrekar: “Can swing the ball by bowling full, can hit the deck & get the ball to cut, can bowl a great yorker at 150 kph. No, I am not talking about Naseem (Shah) or (Shaheen Shah) Afridi. I am talking about Haris Rauf”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Sanjay Manjrekar, the former India batsman, has expressed his admiration at the fact that Pakistan pace bowler Haris Rauf can swing the ball, get it to cut, and “bowl a great yorker at 150 kph.”
Rauf is one of the fastest bowlers in the game today and is one of the most dangerous speedsters around right now.
He has been in great form lately and is set to play a pivotal role for the men in green in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
“Can swing the ball by bowling full, can hit the deck & get the ball to cut, can bowl a great yorker at 150 kph. No, I am not talking about Naseem (Shah) or (Shaheen Shah) Afridi. I am talking about Haris Rauf,” Manjrekar said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Rauf didn’t play in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka, but did feature in the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan, where he took five wickets in two games at an average of 13.20.
He continued to impress in the Asia Cup as he finished with nine wickets in four games at an average of 13.33.
Pakistan started the tournament with a 238-run win over Nepal before sharing one point apiece with India as their match was abandoned due to rain.
Having got through to the Super Four stage, the men in green demolished Bangladesh by seven wickets.
However, things completely fell apart for Pakistan from here as they lost to India by 228 runs and Sri Lanka by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method, which resulted in them failing to make the Asia Cup final.
Rauf sustained an injury to his right flank 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 in India.
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