Misbah-ul-Haq: “He is leaking 18-20 runs in his first over”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq has slammed express bowler Haris Rauf for conceding “18-20 runs in his first over.”
He noted that the 30-year-old is giving away far too many runs, which subsequently puts pressure on the other bowlers to try and bring the run rate under control.
Rauf’s leakage of runs was a major talking point during the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup as he conceded 533 runs in nine matches, making it the most by any bowler in a single edition of the tournament.
Misbah conceded that the Rawalpindi native has to do something to rectify this problem as it cannot be allowed to persist.
“He is leaking 18-20 runs in his first over,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Despite giving away a lot of runs during the World Cup, Rauf did take 16 wickets at an average of 33.31.
Pakistan won their first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they fought back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they were unable to make it to the semi-finals.
The men in green’s campaign ended in disappointing fashion as England demolished them by 93 runs.
Rauf was set to represent Pakistan in their upcoming three-match Test series against Australia, but he pulled out at the last moment due to workload concerns.
The first Test between Pakistan and Australia will get underway on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi