Shaheen Shah Afridi: “We missed Haris Rauf. He is not only required for Lahore Qalandars in PSL but also for Pakistan in [the] upcoming T20 World Cup”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan T20I captain Shaheen Shah Afridi confirmed that the men in green will definitely need the services of pace bowler Haris Rauf for the 2024 T20 World Cup in June.
Rauf is arguably the fastest bowler in Pakistan as he is capable of bowling at speeds close to 155 kph.
However, things have not gone the 30-year-old’s way lately as he has been heavily criticised for leaking too many runs when bowling.
In addition to this, he had his central contract terminated by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for withdrawing from the three-match Test series against Australia from December 2023 to January 2024.
Most recently, he played for the Lahore Qalandars in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), but his campaign ended after just four matches as he suffered a dislocated shoulder.
Afridi, who captained the Qalandars, conceded that he missed Rauf for the remainder of PSL 9 and hopes he will be fit and firing on all cylinders by the time the T20 World Cup rolls around.
“We missed Haris Rauf. He is not only required for Lahore Qalandars in PSL but also for Pakistan in [the] upcoming T20 World Cup,” he was quoted as saying by journalist Arfa Feroz Zake on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Rauf only took two wickets in PSL 9 at an average of 66 and an economy rate of 9.42.
As for Afridi, he finished with 14 wickets in nine matches at an average of 22.14 and an economy rate of 8.61.
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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