Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf has been warned by chief selector Wahab Riaz after the pacer withdrew from the upcoming Test series against Australia in December.
Rauf, who was part of Pakistan’s ODI world cup squad, cited concerns over his workload and made himself unavailable for the Australia tour.
“Two days back he (Rauf) told us that he was available for the Test series and last night he said he had worries over his workload and fitness issues so he was not available,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief selector Wahab Riaz said on Monday.
Riaz further revealed that he, alongside team director Mohammad Hafeez, held a discussion with Rauf over his concerns and they assured him he won’t be asked to bowl more than 12 overs in a day.
“I and Hafeez spoke to him (Rauf) in detail and told him that both the captain and coach wanted him to play in Australia, as he was an impact bowler. We assured him that he would not bowl more then 10-12 overs in a day in Australia,” Riaz said.
“We also spoke to the team physio and trainer and they said Rauf had no fitness issues and there would be no problem with him in Australia. As a centrally contracted player we felt he should have not taken a step back,” he added.
Riaz said any player regardless of his profile will not feature in their future plan unless their give priority to playing for Pakistan.
“We felt that with Naseem (Shah), Muhammad Hasnain and Ehsanullah unavailable due to injuries, Rauf, if he wanted to play for Pakistan, should have made a sacrifice and played for the team,” Riaz said.
“Any player, no matter who he is or how big a player he is, if he is not giving priority to the Pakistan team then he will not feature in our future plans,” he added.
Pakistan will start their Australia tour with a four-day warm-up fixture against a Prime Minister’s XI from December 6.
They are slated to play three Tests and five T20Is against the hosts starting December 14.
Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi.
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