‘He listens to you guys more carefully.’ – Former Pakistan Players Get Involved In An Argument Over Haris Rauf’s Performance
Haris Rauf in Asia Cup 2022 (Image Source: Twitter)
On 28 August 2022, India took on Pakistan in their first match of the Asia Cup 2022. However, India managed to win the match by five wickets. Hardik Pandya performed exceptionally well with both bat and the ball. Pakistan showed a great fight. But, they fell short against Pandya only.
Haris Rauf did not have a good outing as he failed to take any wickets. He conceded 35 runs in four overs. Regarding his performance, former Pakistan players got involved in an argument. Sikander Bakht criticized Rauf’s performance. But, Aaqib Javed came up with the support of Rauf to defend his performance.
“Haris Rauf listens to you guys more carefully.” – Sikander Bakht to Aaqib Javed
Speaking in a debate on Geo Super, Sikander Bakht said that Haris Rauf failed to nail the yorkers. Instead of it, Rauf went for short-pitched deliveries. In response to that, Aaqib Javed said: “He bowled two bad deliveries. But overall, where there is a lot of grass, the best ball is a good length delivery. He did that. But tell me, we saw Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India… but the cramps that we endured.. three (one) bowlers and our wicketkeepers.. how can you expect them to give their best if they are down with cramps? It’s related to your food and water intake.”
Then, Bakht said: “Did Haris also suffer cramps?” before adding, “I’m talking about Haris. It’s because he bowls yorkers really well. But he gets excited and bowls short-of-the-length balls. He listens to you guys more carefully.”
But, Aaqib Javed said that the main problem with Pakistan was the over-reliance on the top three batters. “Pakistan didn’t lose skill-wise, they lost physically. They endured cramps. And we’ve been talking about it since before too, the batting order is relying on Babar, Rizwan, and Fakhar. If they get out early, the rest of the line-up cannot play out the overs” he added. In response to Haris Rauf’s lack of yorker balls in the match, Javed concluded: “Yorker is his best ball. But it’s effective if the ball is reverse-swinging. If the pitch has grass, there’s not much rough, the ball won’t reverse. Yorker is difficult.”
