Haris Rauf's contract restored as pacer apologizes Mohsin Naqvi

In a recent development, the new Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Mohsin Naqvi has included right-arm fast bowler Haris Rauf into the central contract list, a month after his exclusion.

The development was confirmed by PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi during an interaction with the media. It is a huge boost for the Green Army months before the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and West Indies.

Haris Rauf was kicked out of the player retainership list by then PCB chief Zaka Ashraf after the right-arm pacer’s reluctance to play in the longest format of the game for the national side. While the rest of his teammates were on a tour of Australia for a 3-match Test series, Rauf was also there in the country but was not playing in the Benaud-Qadir trophy.

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“After receiving his written reply the board has decided to restore his central contract,” Naqvi said at a press conference.

“So we have decided to restore his central contract. We are also worried about Haris Rauf’s fitness because he was injured during the PSL and we need to take proper care of him,” Naqvi said.

The reason for Haris Rauf’s absence was that he was playing in the country’s domestic T20 league – the Big Bash T20 for the Melbourne Stars. Rauf actively participates in various franchise T20 leagues around the world like the Caribbean Premier League, Major League Cricket, and International League T20 among many others.

PCB was infuriated by Haris Rauf’s reluctance to feature in Test cricket

While the PCB had no such problems with him playing in those leagues but they were actually infuriated by Haris Rauf’s constant refusal to play Test cricket. Players discarding red-ball cricket after the rise of franchise cricket is not anything new but a player has to be there for his country when required, be it for T20s, One day,s or Tests.

“Refusal to be part of Pakistan’s Test squad in the absence of any medical report or justifiable reason is a material violation of the central contract,” PCB had said in a statement.

And especially when a team is in a situation like Pakistan were Haris Rauf should have sacrificed his BBL pleasure to suffer along with his teammates. The visitors were left blanked by the ODI and Test world champion side of Australia who stepped over Shan Masood’s side by 3-0 in the series.

Who knows Rauf’s inclusion could have made some difference but even when he was included in the Pakistan side for their subsequent tour of New Zealand for a 5-match T20I series, he could not make any difference. The Green Army, who were under the captaincy of Shaheen Afridi for the first time, were thrashed 4-1 in the series.

Central contract for Rauf but Naqvi remains tight-lipped about Shaheen’s continuation as T20 captain

Mohsin Naqvi has brought back Haris Rauf in the central contracts, but the PCB chief remained tight-lipped on whether or not Shaheen Afridi will continue as the captain. A decision in that regard will be taken during Pakistan’s upcoming National Camp scheduled to undergo in Kakul in the coming weeks.

Shaheen Afridi’s tenure as Pakistan captain started with a 4-1 slapping from New Zealand and then in the recently concluded PSL 9, his Lahore Qalandars side who were the reigning champions, had finished at the bottom.