Abdur Rauf: “He can neither play Tests nor first-class cricket, he could not complete his quota in the Asia Cup or World Cup, he ran away from all the Test series and now he [was] not fit again before the Champions Trophy”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan fast bowler Abdur Rauf believes speedster Haris Rauf cannot play Test cricket as he is unable to bowl long spells.
Haris has only represented Pakistan in one Test, which came against England in December 2022, but he got injured midway through the match as he suffered a grade 2 strain in his right quad.
Lately, though, he has played first-class cricket as he featured in the President’s Trophy Grade-I tournament and took six wickets in two matches for Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited at an average of 25.50.
Despite this, Abdur feels the 31-year-old is not suited for the longest format and also criticised him for being injury-prone.
Haris suffered a muscular sprain in his chest during the recent ODI tri-series against New Zealand and South Africa.
However, he recovered in time to feature in the 2025 Champions Trophy.
“The one who has given Haris Rauf a three-format contract is actually the biggest culprit in Pakistan cricket. He can neither play Tests nor first-class cricket, he could not complete his quota in the Asia Cup or World Cup, he ran away from all the Test series and now he [was] not fit again before the Champions Trophy,” Abdur said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
In the Champions Trophy, Rauf took two wickets in two matches at an average of 67.50.
Pakistan lost to New Zealand and India in the tournament, which led to them getting eliminated in the group stage.
Their last match against Bangladesh was washed out.
Pakistan Squad for 2025 Champions Trophy: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah
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