Wahab Riaz hits back at star Pakistan cricketer for opting out of Australia Test series

Haris Rauf had a horrible ODI World Cup 2023 with Pakistan. The pacer, conceded was the most targeted by opposition batters. Despite being hit square on the boundaries, he consecutively bowled short deliveries, which most batters exploited. Rauf conceded 533 runs, making him the bowler with the highest runs conceded in an ODI World Cup. Despite taking 16 wickets in nine innings, his economy rate was 6.74.  

Pakistan had a horrible tournament losing four consecutive matches and failing to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament for the second consecutive time. The players were slammed and Babar Azam was questioned over his captaincy skills. Babar stepped down as captain from all formats of the game. The chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq also resigned from his post in between the tournament.

After the tournament, a lot of things in the management changed, with the team's new management has been named. Shan Masood has been the Test Captain, and Shaheen Shah Afridi will be the T20I skipper. Pakistan's new chief selector is Wahab Riaz, the pace bowling coach will be Umar Gul, and the spin department will be looked at by Saeed Ajmal. 

We went and spoke to him in detail: Wahab Riaz

Riaz has lashed back at Rauf after himself unavailable two days later reasoning workload and fitness concerns. He said, "I and the Director of the Pakistan team, Mohammad Hafeez, we went and spoke to him in detail and told him that both the captain and coach wanted him (Haris) to play in Australia as he was an impact bowler and we assured him he would not bowl more then 10-12 overs in a day in Australia. We also spoke to the team physio and trainer and they said Haris had no fitness issues and there would be no problem with him in Australia."

"There has been discussion that if Haris is only focused on white ball cricket then the central contact given to him also needs to be reviewed since he was placed in category B which carries a monthly retainer of over 4 million rupees plus enhanced match fees, bonuses and a share in the PCB's share of Cricket Governing Body revenues."