Sikandar Bakht: “I am shocked that Haris Rauf has been given a central contract by the PCB when the player has rejected playing Test cricket for the country”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan speedster Sikandar Bakht admitted to being shocked that fast bowler Haris Rauf was awarded a central contract.
He felt as if the 30-year-old was not deserving of a contract since he refused to play in Pakistan’s Test series against Australia from December 2023 to January 2024.
Bakht questioned how such players can be rewarded when they don’t feature in all three formats and subsequently went on to state that the 150 kph seamer should only be paid “10% of the current amount”.
“I am shocked that Haris Rauf has been given a central contract by the PCB when the player has rejected playing Test cricket for the country,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
“You can give [a] central contract but make sure it is only 10% of the current amount because he does not play the real format of the game and only bowls 4 overs in a game (T20s).”
Rauf was not involved in Pakistan’s recent two-match Test series against Bangladesh, which they lost 2-0.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi
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