In a scathing critique, former Pakistan captain Salman Butt labeled fast bowler Haris Rauf as ‘unprofessional’ and accused him of failing to learn from his mistakes.
Butt harshly criticized Rauf for not bowling to his field during the T20 World Cup match against the USA in Dallas, Texas, on Thursday. Tasked with bowling the final over with the USA needing 15 runs to win, Rauf conceded a six to Aaron Jones on the third ball. The USA required five runs off the last ball, and Rauf opted for a yorker with mid-off positioned up. This resulted in a low full toss, which Nitish Kumar struck over mid-off for a boundary.
The match proceeded to a Super Over after both teams finished with 159 runs. In the Super Over, Pakistan conceded 18 runs, including eight extras, largely due to Mohammad Amir’s wayward bowling and Pakistan’s subpar fielding, which allowed easy singles and doubles.
In reply, Pakistan managed only 12 runs in the Super Over, bowled by Saurabh Netravalkar, as the USA made history by defeating Pakistan in a World Cup match. This victory marked their third against a Test-playing nation, with none bigger than this one against a former world champion.
- Advertisement -
Butt criticized Rauf for his lack of field awareness. “It’s not surprising he conceded so many runs because he doesn’t seem to pay attention to his field. With mid-off up, he bowled full and got hit for a boundary on the last ball. The captain was visibly frustrated. When mid-off is up, you don’t bowl full. It’s a basic cricket principle,” Butt said on the ‘Cricket Baithak’ podcast.
Rauf conceded 37 runs in his four overs, making him the most expensive Pakistani bowler on Thursday. Even in the middle overs, he failed to bowl to the field against Andreas Gous.
Butt continued his harsh assessment, calling Rauf ‘unprofessional’ and accusing him of not learning from his mistakes. “He has this odd reaction when he bowls—sitting on his knees with his hands on his head as if he suffered a huge loss. It’s unprofessional and shows he hasn’t learned anything. They lacked common sense and game awareness,” Butt added.
Meanwhile, Haris Rauf faced ball-tampering allegations. Rusty Theron, a former South African player not part of the USA squad, accused Rauf of running his thumbnails over the ball, which was just two overs old, to make it reverse swing.
The 38-year-old seamer also criticized the ICC for not investigating the incident. “Are we just going to pretend Pakistan aren’t scratching the hell out of this freshly changed ball? Reversing a ball that’s just been changed two overs ago? You can literally see Haris Rauf running his thumbnail over the ball at the top of his mark,” Theron wrote on ‘X’.
Pakistan’s next match is against India on Sunday in New York.
