Shahid Afridi: “Right now, Haris Rauf seems to be struggling with his bowling, and I’m not quite understanding it”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi has admitted that he cannot understand why express bowler Haris Rauf is “struggling with his bowling.”
Rauf, who is capable of hitting speeds above 150 kph, has been criticised for leaking too many runs when bowling lately.
On top of that, he hasn’t been taking as many wickets as expected, which has put further pressure on him.
To make matters worse, the 30-year-old had his central contract terminated after pulling out of Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia.
He returned for Pakistan’s five-match T20I series against New Zealand and took seven wickets in four games at an average of 23 and an economy rate of 10.61.
Rauf then proceeded to play for the Lahore Qalandars in the ongoing 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), but had his campaign cut short after dislocating his shoulder.
He will now miss the rest of PSL 9 as it will take him four to six weeks to recover.
In the four games he played for the Qalandars, he picked up two wickets at an average of 66 and an economy rate of 9.42.
Given that Rauf hasn’t been at his best as of late, Afridi stressed the importance of finding out why he has not been meeting expectations.
“Right now, Haris Rauf seems to be struggling with his bowling, and I’m not quite understanding it,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Lahore Qalandars Squad for PSL 9: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Rassie van der Dussen, Haris Rauf, David Wiese, Sahibzada Farhan, Sikandar Raza, Abdullah Shafique, Zaman Khan, Mirza Tahir Baig, Mohammad Imran, Ahsan Hafeez, Dan Lawrence, Jahandad Khan, Syed Faridoun, Shai Hope, Kamran Ghulam, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Tayyab Abbas
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