As the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup approaches, Haris Rauf opens up about his injury and return to competitive cricket.
Haris Rauf returned to international cricket after an injury layoff in the second T20 match at Edgbaston in time for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The pacer, who was kept away from playing cricket for three months due to a dislocated shoulder, said the timeout was not necessarily a bad thing.
“I’ve been injured for the last few months, but if I believe in myself, being released will be a blessing,” he said at a press conference ahead of Pakistan’s third T20I against England in Cardiff. said.
“Because you have time to recover and rethink your game plan. It felt good to be back playing cricket.
Rauf was injured while playing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in February. He was given a three-month suspension, which meant he would miss the remaining matches of the PSL as well as Pakistan’s home series against New Zealand and away series in Ireland
The pacer will miss this week He first returned for the second T20I against England at Edgbaston, where he showed what Pakistan were missing. He dismissed England’s top scorers Jos Buttler and Will Jacks, conceding 34 runs in his four overs. He made a strong comeback after conceding 17 runs in the first over.
It wasn’t enough as England scored 183 points while Pakistan only scored 160 points.
“Losing a game hurts, but we are confident as a team,” Rauch said of the game.
“We believe that we can defeat any opponent at any time. We have already achieved this in the past. When we make mistakes, we learn from them and strive to avoid repeating them.” Masu.” I want to play better in the next match and get back on track.
“Camp is relaxing. It’s fun. We follow our game plan and try to execute it well. Lately, the results haven’t been in our favor very often, but the plan… If you stick to it, sometimes you can execute your plan.”
Rauf spoke about the mental aspect of the injury break, something his colleague Naseem Shah also mentioned earlier. “It’s tough,” he said. “You struggle during rehab and then when you come back it’s hard to maintain that pace and accuracy. I have a lot of time to think about my game and train myself. The good news is that I’m back now and the [T20] World Cup is just around the corner.”
Pakistan has played a substantial amount of cricket leading up to the T20 World Cup, with a total of 17 T20Is in 2024 alone. These matches have involved significant experimentation, ranging from changes in the top-order to even a change of captain.
Rauf laid the importance of the remaining two games of the England series but insisted that they are much more than just confidence-boosters before the mega event.
“Before the [T20] World Cup, if you win a series it gives you confidence, but even if you lose you understand where you made mistakes and you learn from them,” he said.
“This series is difficult, but we’ll try to win it. The focus is of course on the World Cup, which we aim to win to make our country proud.”