PAK vs NZ: Ramiz Raja Lashes Out On "Inconsistent" Pakistan Selectors For Dropping Mohammad Harris

Former Pakistan cricketer and PCB Chief Ramiz Raja in a latest interview with a Pakistani outlet has not held himself back from expressing his strong opinions against the authoritative management present in the PCB office, which is doing dirty politics behind the scenes and degrading the quality of cricket in the country.

In an interview with a local Pakistani outlet, Ramiz Raja spoke about various matters from his days at the PCB office to Shaheen Afridi’s appointment as the T20I captain. In that same interview, he was asked about PCB’s decision to bench 22-year-old batter Mohammad Harris from the team after a string of poor performances from the batter.

🗣️ Ramiz Raja highlights the inconsistency in the selection of Pakistan national team#PakistanCricketTeam #CricketTwitter #SaimAyub pic.twitter.com/C6f8zs5rwd

— CricWick (@CricWick) January 12, 2024

Mohammad Harris impressed everyone with his performance in the Pakistan Super League’s 2022 edition for Peshawar Zalmi. The youngster smacked an emphatic 49 off 27 deliveries on PSL debut to help his side prevail in a match that was seemingly going away from the hands of Peshawar.

He was a replacement for wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal who had to sit out due to COVID-19. But even after Akmal returned with full fitness, Haris cemented his position in the team all because of his power-hitting prowess. In his 2nd PSL match against Islamabad United, Haris played out another match-winning knock of 70 off 32 balls where he clicked a strike rate of 187 which was the highest strike rate by any batter in that particular PSL edition.

As a result, he was called up to the National team and made his debut for Pakistan in an ODI series against West Indies at home. 2 months later, Mohammad Haris was called up to the T20 side for a series against England at home. Harris came in to bat at either number 3 or 4 but maintained a decent strike rate of 127.

However, he failed to retain his spot in the side due to inconsistent performances. And even on those innings where he started well, Haris would get out in the same manner, time and again in the 9 matches he played.

Ramiz Raja Claims Mohammad Haris’ Strike Rate Was Of No Use To Pakistan

Many blame PCB for not giving Mohammad Haris enough chances despite the player showing sparks in his initial outings and Ramiz Raja agreed to that point. When he was asked about why Haris was not given chances and why are the PCB selectors so inconsistent with their planning, this is what he had to say.

“See that is your point. Your strike rate touches 200 but you cannot expect consistency with such a strike rate and then you get out of the plans. Then you know that player is a sparkler who will score 20-30 runs but get out early and in the end team doesn’t benefit from it.”

It is also that player’s loss who tried his best to improvise his strike rate to 180 but then again when you have Saim Ayub in your plans why has Mohammad Haris being left out?” – Ramiz Raja concluded.