In the first match of the Super Four stages of the Asia Cup 2023 between Pakistan and Bangladesh. Pakistani fast bowler Haris Rauf’s outstanding performance led his team to win over Bangladesh in a one-sided match. For his brilliant performance, Haris Rauf was picked as the player of the match for his 4 wickets and gave away 19 runs in his 6 over spell, and Haris Rauf expressed his desire to be the player of the series as well in the tournament.
In the match, Pakistan started as the favorite team to win the game because of their strong bowling lineup and home advantage. Bangladesh batted first on the flat track of Lahore, but their top three could not make much from the flat track as they lost wickets very cheaply.
Their best players, Skipper Shakib Al Hasan 53 (57) and Mushfiqur Rahim 64 (87), built a partnership but could not help the team post a big total for the strong Pakistan batting line-up as they bowled out at just 193. Haris Rauf, who picked up four important wickets, drilled through the batting of the batting team.
While chasing a very small total, the Pakistani inning started very nicely, but Fakhar Zaman stuck in the crease as he was given lbw, and Babar Azam also went back to the dressing room without making any impact with his bat. On the other hand, Imam was looking well in the crease.
The partnership between the left-hander 78 (84) and Mohammad Rizwan almost sealed the game for Pakistan, but the finishing touch was the sweep shot of Agha Salman, who remained not out of 12 along with Rizwan 63 (79), and Pakistan resisted an easy win in the match.
I have high goals for myself- Haris Rauf
During the post match presentation, Haris Rauf stated that the conditions were quite hot but at the same time, he said that he has played a lot of cricket for PSL at Lahore. Haris Rauf pointed out that he wants to be the player of the series in Asia Cup
“It was hot out there, but I have played a lot of cricket here. I play PSL for Lahore, and the crowd always expects us to perform here. I keep working hard, and I have high goals for myself. I want to be the player of the series in the Asia Cup. Let’s see how the tournament proceeds,” said Haris Rauf.
“Before any game, we do plan as a bowling unit. We talk about bowling with different plans based on the game phase. Hard length was tough to play here, and the plan was to keep bowling stumps to stump. Did not need to go to Yorkers,” he added.