Since the loss of Naseem Shah, Pakistan’s bowling attack seemed to have taken a massive collective hit. The two warm-up games in Hyderabad for Pakistan have been really terrible with regard to their bowling attack, which has now become a major issue for them heading into the World Cup 2023.
First, they failed to defend 345 against New Zealand, the Kiwis chasing the target down in 43.4 overs. Then, against Australia, they conceded 351 runs despite Australia being 255/6 in 41 overs as Green and Inglis pounded big runs in the death overs.
Haris Rauf, the designated death-overs bowler for Pakistan and hailed as one of the best white-ball fast bowlers in the world, took a proper hammering in Hyderabad from the Aussie batters. In 9 overs that he bowled in multiple spells, Haris Rauf leaked 97 runs for one wicket.
Rauf was taken for 28 runs in his first overs and was removed from the attack. In his next spell, he removed Steve Smith and bowled well.
His third spell was very expensive. Bowling 4 overs in the last 7 overs, Rauf was smashed for 66 runs in his last 4 overs. Inglish and Green tonked him for a number of fours and sixes as he ended with figures of 9-0-97-1.
This pounding of Rauf led to a spate of trolling, especially from the fans of Indian batsman Virat Kohli.
Virat Kohli fans troll Haris Rauf with funny memes:
Earlier, Rauf had recalled Virat Kohli’s memorable shot against him at the MCG in their meeting at last year’s T20 World Cup. That shot from Kohli is now part of cricketing folklore. The pacer said no other batsman in the world could have hit him for that kind of six.
He told ESPNcricinfo: “The way he [Kohli] played in the World Cup, that is his class, we all know the types of shots he plays. And the way he hit those sixes, I don’t think any other player can hit a shot like that off my bowling. If Dinesh Karthik or Hardik Pandya would’ve hit those sixes, I would’ve been hurting but those came off Kohli’s bat and he is a different class altogether.”
