Pakistan brings back Haris Rauf ahead of Ireland, England T20I series

Haris Rauf (Pic: File Pic)

Pakistan selectors on Thursday dropped leg-spinner Usama Mir ahead of the T20 series in Ireland and England. Pacer Haris Rauf has received a call up ahead of the series.

PCB selectors Muhammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, and Wahab Riaz while interacting with the media said that the squad for the T20 World Cup 2024 won't be picked based on the performances against Ireland and England.

The "Green Shirts" will clash with Ireland for the three-match series which is set to kick start on May 10. Later, Pakistan will lock horns with England for four T20I matches. The series against Englishmen will start on May 22. There are a few fitness issues with Muhammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf, Azam Khan and Irfan Khan Niazi but there has been a significant improvement in their fitness and we are confident they will play in the coming matches, Wahab said.

Following the series, Wahab also answered the reason for recalling pacer Hasan Ali.

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"If Haris is fit and performs well in coming matches he is our first choice. He has started bowling but if he doesn't come through we have Hasan Ali", said Wahab Riaz.

Pacer Haris Rauf was out of action since February when he got unfit during the Pakistan Super League. Razzaq said that leg-spinner Usama has been dropped since Pakistan already has Shadab Khan and Abrar Ahmed in the squad.

Yousuf insisted that the recent 2-2 result in the T20 series against a depleted New Zealand outfit was not a bad one. It is true that New Zealand were missing some main players but it is also for the first time that we also fully implemented the rotation policy by trying out new players in the series, he said.

Yousuf also said that they were pushing the players to be more innovative in playing their shots and admitted that some players came up short on that front.

Look unless we are not ready to accept failure and move our batters will never be ready to adopt innovative stroke play, he said.

Wahab Riaz also mentioned that he spoke to newly appointed head coach Gary Kirsten and they all agreed that they need to remove the feeling of insecurity and fear of failure from players' minds.

Our aim is to give them an environment where they can give their best and play fearlessly. Wahab also said that selecting the playing eleven would remain the domain of the captain and the selectors would not interfere in that area.
The selectors also defended Babar Azam's ability as a captain.

No one is a born captain but from what we saw in the NZ series there was an improvement in his leadership and we are hopeful he will become better and he has captaincy experience. We want to remain on the same page with him, Razzaq said.

Squad: Babar Azam (Captain), Muhammad Rizwan, Azam Khan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Irfan Khan Niazi, Abrar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Muhammad Amir, Imad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Abbas Afridi and Agha Ali Salman.

(With PTI Inputs)