Hit to all parts by India in the Asia Cup final at the end of September, Haris Rauf turned to domestic cricket to rediscover his mojo.
On his return to international cricket, the grind of first-class cricket paved the way for a fiery spell of fast bowling that clinched victory for Pakistan with the 32-year-old ripping through the Sri Lankan top-order, and finishing with figures of 4-61, as the hosts scraped to a six-run win in the first One-day International at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Tuesday night.
“It wasn’t easy to win tonight,” Haris said at the post-match press conference. “It wasn’t easy to bowl in the dew but you keep trying as a bowler to pick wickets and in the end we won, which was important.”
The performance was important for Haris as well. Slammed for being too easy to put away in the highly-charged Asia Cup final against arch-rivals India, the right-armer got back to work with Islamabad in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.
“You keep giving your best effort and try to make an impact,” he said. “In our field, there is no forgiveness. Expectations are always high but sometimes you win, some times you lose. We are not machines. As a player, you have to keep believing in yourself as there is always the next morning after the night.”
The first Quaid-e-Azam Trophy outing at the start of October against Lahore Whites didn’t give Haris much of a chance to flex his arm. In a match that petered out to a draw, he bowled just eight overs, picking 1-21.
The second match, at the end of last month, also didn’t go very much to plan with the speedster returing figures of 2-82 in 17 years in the first innings before getting 1-34 in 10 overs of the second innings as Islamabad were handed a crushing 311-run defeat.
The key, though, as he noted on Tuesday, was about getting the overs in the tank.
“As a player, as a bowler, you start preparing for the next assignment,” he told reporters, adding that was also looking to return to the Test side.
“One-dayers demand longer spells so I played four-dayers, which helped. You aim to bowl around 40 overs during the match and fine-tune your body.”
Having been dropped for the T20 series against South Africa, Haris was set to return for the three-match ODI series against South Africa in Faisalabad last week, only to be suspended for the first two games after being found guilty of violating ICC’s Code of Conduct during the Asia Cup match against India.
He played the third ODI, but bowled just three overs as spinners took charge and led Pakistan to a series win over the Proteas.
Different story
On Tuesday, however, it was a different story.
Pakistan had rode on a brilliant unbeaten century by Salman Ali Agha and a maiden ODI half-century by Hussain Talat to post 299-5 and after Sri Lankan openers had given their side a solid start in the chase, Haris made the difference.
He broke the 85-run opening partnership between Kamil Mishara and Pathum Nissanka, getting the former caught at mid-off and then had Kusal Mendis chop him onto his stumps on the very next delivery.
Haris then found the seam movement that led to Nissanka’s undoing, the opener getting caught behind, and Sri Lanka having been reduced to 90-3.
The pacer, though, wasn’t done for the night as he returned to end a fourth-wicket stand of 57 by sending back Sadeera Samarawickrama, after a brilliant catch in the slip by Babar Azam.
Sri Lanka were down and out at 210-7 and although Wanindu Hasaranga made a 52-ball 59, Pakistan got over the line.
“It was a team effort that took us to victory,” said Haris. “You win as a team and you bowl in partnerships. Sometimes you don’t get wickets from one end but you get it from the other end.”
Turning point
The second match of the series is on Thursday and Sri Lanka will look to hit back, having lost their way after they had Pakistan on the ropes early on.
Hasaranga, who picked up 3-54, had reduced Pakistan to 95-4 halfway through their innings only for Salman (105 not out) and Hussain (62) to wrest back momentum and power the hosts to what proved to be a winning score.
“That was the turning point,” Hasaranga said at the post match press conference. “Credit should go to Salman and Hussain as they batted really well. In the first 20-25 overs, we did really well but then our plans and their execution went wrong.”
It was a sentiment that his captain Charith Asalanka had shared earlier at the post-match ceremony.
“The way Salman and Hussain batted, it took the game away,” said Asalanka. “We gave away too many runs, it should have been under 270.”
Pakistan skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi admitted the partnership between Salman and Hussain was key but added a word for Haris: “A target of 300 was good and then Haris gave us crucial wickets.”
