Dinesh Karthik: “Haris Rauf was a massive miss for them, he was somebody who was touted to be the most important bowler who could bowl through the middle overs, pick up wickets and at the death, but he leaked a lot of runs in his first and second spell”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
India wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has admitted that 150 kph fast bowler Haris Rauf “was a massive miss” for Pakistan during the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
He noted that Rauf could have been the team’s “most important bowler”, but fell well short of the mark as he leaked too many runs.
The 30-year-old conceded 533 runs in nine matches, which is the most by any bowler in a single edition of the World Cup.
However, it should be noted that Rauf claimed 16 wickets at an average of 33.31.
“Haris Rauf was a massive miss for them, he was somebody who was touted to be the most important bowler who could bowl through the middle overs, pick up wickets and at the death, but he leaked a lot of runs in his first and second spell,” Karthik told Cricbuzz as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan won their first two matches against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite bouncing back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, it was not enough to earn them a spot in the semi-finals.
The men in green ended their campaign on a low as England hammered them by 93 runs.
Rauf was supposed to be picked for Pakistan’s upcoming three-match Test series against Australia, but he pulled out at the last minute due to workload concerns.
The first Test between Pakistan and Australia will begin 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
[TS_Poll id=”30″]