‘Rohit Sharma knew’ how to handle Haris Rauf: Wasim Akram | Cricket News

NEW DELHI: Fast bowling legend Wasim Akram slammed Pakistan’s lacklustre bowling, especially pacer Haris Rauf, after the 1992 ODI champions suffered an embarrassing seven-wicket loss at the hands of India in their ICC World Cup match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
Batting first, Pakistan put on a below-par 191 runs in 42.5 overs despite being in a strong position at 155/2.They were on course for a big total but Babar Azam’s men suffered a dramatic collapse, losing eight wickets for a mere 36 runs.India, thus, maintained their unbeaten winning streak against the arch-rivals in ODI World Cups, sparking celebrations among billions of fans.

It marked India’s eighth triumph over Pakistan in the ODI World Cups, extending their unbeaten run against their neighbours in the 50-over mega event to 8-0.
“There’s an attitude about a bowler. Talking about Haris Rauf, and nothing against him as he’s been Pakistan’s main bowler, I think he will only pick wickets when batters go after him. I’ve never seen him swing the ball and pick wickets like (Jasprit) Bumrah did today. He has pace but he has to improve his length for one-day cricket,” Akram said on a Pakistan TV show.
Rauf bowled six overs and conceded 43 runs at an economy of 7.20.
Among Rohit Sharma‘s 6 sixes in the innings, three were hit off Rauf’s bowling.
“Rauf was not bowling bouncers to Rohit. You need to hit proper bouncers so that Rohit would have pulled, got a leading edge, and would have got caught at fine leg or square leg. Rauf was bowling at his waist height and Rohit knew where to send the ball,” Akram said.

Akram also heaped praise on India’s star pacer Jasprit Bumrah and called him a “clever bowler”.
Bumrah bagged two wickets while giving away just 19 runs in seven overs and was adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’.

“Jasprit Bumrah is a clever bowler, one of the best in the world. When he was not getting any swing initially, he was hit for a couple of fours but restricted the flow of runs after that. Everything was finishing within the stumps and that was a slow ball to dismiss (Muhammad) Rizwan. Any batter would have got out on the delivery that got Shadab Khan,” said Akram.
India will now take on Bangladesh on October 19 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, while Pakistan will face Australia on October 20 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Watch India vs Pakistan: Rohit Sharma, bowlers star in India’s dominant 7-wicket win