Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja expressed his concern over the young pacers Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi losing bowling speed during the opening ODI match against New Zealand at the Pindi Cricket Stadium.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Raja emphasized that Rauf relies on effective yorkers or a shift in pace to be effective in T20s, but that he needs to pick up the tempo in ODIs to be more effective.
“There is a cloud of uncertainty over Haris Rauf, and I believe this is because he is not as efficient as a length bowler. In T20s, he either bowls effective yorkers or has a good change of speed, and when batters take risks, he easily takes wickets. It’s different to bowl in ODIs, and I believe he needs to pick up the pace to be more productive,” he remarked.
“Overall, his pace has slowed down; I’m not sure if he’s bowling slower himself. I can see not exerting too much effort in the first 2-3 overs in a 10-over spell, but overall, I believe his pace needs to be raised a little bit, the speaker continued.”
The former PCB chairman also emphasized that Shaheen Afridi needs to raise his forward bowling speed by one or two notches from his current average speed of 136.
“Shaheen Afridi also has to pick up a few gears when he bowls forward and enhance his 136 mph average speed. This is because such pitches need you to have a solid grasp of your bowling technique. After all, you are aware that there won’t be a lot of sideways movement. Therefore, to be effective, you need to develop a process through variations, a change in pace, or sheer pace,” he said.
Ramiz Raja’s comments were made in response to Shaheen and Haris’ bowling in the first ODI against the Blackcaps when they cost a lot of runs during their stint.
Haris took two wickets, although he also gave up 65 runs, while Shaheen managed to take two wickets for 63 runs.
