AUS vs PAK: Shahid Afridi Slams Haris Rauf For Choosing BBL Over Pakistan Test Team

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has expressed his disappointment over Haris Rauf’s decision to play in the Big Bash League instead of playing the ongoing Test series in Australia. After the disappointing campaign in the World Cup, Haris Rauf was allowed to represent Pakistan in the ongoing Test series.

The right-arm pacer, however, decided otherwise. Before the squad was announced, he decided to pull out of the series to manage his workload and protect his body. Pakistan’s chief selector Wahab Riaz had openly slammed the pacer for prioritizing BBL over the national team.

With Haris Rauf pulling out, Pakistan’s squad did not have pacers who could regularly bowl at 140s. They had to play the first Test with medium-fast bowlers Khurram Shahzad and Aamer Jamal before picking Mir Hamza and Hasan Ali for the second. Their pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi has also struggled to do well in the series so far.

“I think Haris [Rauf] should be part of this side instead rather than [the BBL]. In these conditions, the kind of pace he has, he would have performed well and enjoyed himself on the kinds of pitches Australia prepared in Perth and here,” Shahid Afridi was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Shahid Afridi questions Shaheen Afridi’s injury:

Shahid Afridi also commented on Shaheen Afridi’s drop in pace. The left-arm pacer has struggled to recover his pace after the knee injury that he sustained last year. Shahid Afridi, however, believes that the pacer is not carrying any injury despite the drop in pace. He also remarked that Pakistan needs to invest in bench strength.

“I’ve never got the impression that Shaheen has an injury. If you’re injured you can’t play as a fast bowler. He knows his responsibility and how important he is to the team. The fast bowlers, we are expecting a lot from them because they’ve done well in the past. Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen etc. have performed so well we expect them to perform in every match. Relentless consistency is challenging in cricket.

“I have always said that unless our bench is strong we won’t be able to take the best decisions. The A team should be as strong as the main team, so if Shaheen or Babar or Rizwan aren’t strong, we shouldn’t have the excuses of players being unavailable, like we do with Naseem now. When our bench is strong, we will no longer have excuses,” said Shahid Afridi.

Talking about the ongoing second Test, Australia have set Pakistan a target of 317 runs after being bowled out for 262 runs. Shaheen Afridi and Mir Hamza picked up four wickets each in the second innings. Australia are currently leading the series after winning the first Test.