Ramiz Raja calls out Shaheen, Rauf’s decrease in bowling speed

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Former Pakistan cricketer, Ramiz Raja, has expressed his concern over the decrease in bowling speed of young Pakistan pacers, Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi, during the first ODI match against New Zealand at the Pindi Cricket Stadium. 

While speaking on his YouTube channel, Raja highlighted Rauf's reliance on good yorkers or a change of pace to be effective in T20s, but believes he needs to increase his pace to be more effective in ODIs. 

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"There is a question mark hovering over Haris Rauf, and I think it's because he isn't as effective as a length bowler. He either bowls good yorkers or has a good change of pace, and in T20s, when batsmen take chances, he takes wickets easily. In ODIs, bowling is different, and I think he needs to increase his pace to be more effective," he said

"Overall, his pace has decreased, I don't know if he himself is bowling with less pace. Let's say there is a 10-over spell, then I can understand not exerting too much pace in 2-3 overs, but overall, I think his pace needs to be increased a bit more," he added.

Additionally, the former chairman PCB also highlighted the need for Shaheen Afridi to increase his average speed of 136 and go up by a notch or two when he bowls forward. 

"Shaheen Afridi also needs to increase his average speed of 136 and go up by a notch or two when he bowls forward. This is because on such pitches, you need to have a good understanding of your bowling, as you know that you will not get much sideways movement. Therefore, you need to develop a process through variations, change of pace, or sheer pace to be effective," he concluded.

Ramiz Raja's remarks were made in light of Shaheen and Haris's performance in the opening ODI against the Blackcaps, where they were quite expensive in their spell. 

Despite this, Shaheen managed to take two wickets for 63 runs, while Haris also took two wickets but conceded 65 runs.

Yesterday, Fakhar Zaman’s century helped Pakistan beat New Zealand by five wickets in the first ODI. The second ODI of the five-match series will be played at the same venue on 29 April.

Scores in brief:

Pakistan beat New Zealand by five wickets

New Zealand 288-7, 50 overs (Daryl Mitchell 113, Will Young 86; Naseem Shah 2-29, Shaheen Shah Afridi 2-63, Haris Rauf 2-65)

Pakistan 291-5, 48.3 overs (Fakhar Zaman 117, Imam-ul-Haq 60, Babar Azam 49, Mohammad Rizwan 42 not out; Adam Milne 2-60)

Player of the match – Fakhar Zaman (Pakistan)