Haris Rauf becomes the fastest bowler to 100 T20I wickets for Pakistan; third fastest in the world
Haris Rauf took his 100th T20I wicket against Canada and became the third-quickest to reach the milestone in the shortest format. He took 71 matches to reach the milestone, only behind Rashid Khan (53) and Wanindu Hasaranga (63) and became the fastest Pakistani bowler to do so.
Rauf bowled a back-of-a-length delivery just outside the off-stump line to Shreyas Movva, who tried to work it towards the off-side region but could only get the edge of his bat due to excessive bounce, and the ball flew straight to the wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan. Rizwan completed a fine catch to hand Haris Rauf his 100th scalp in T20Is, becoming only the second Pakistani to reach the milestone.
Haris dismissed another batter in the same over, breaking the backbone of Canada’s batting lineup and leaving them in further trouble. He was bang on target and was too hot to handle for Canadian batters, who are slightly inexperienced at this level.
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The start wasn’t as fluent for Rauf; he struggled for rhythm and sprayed his lines and lengths all around to make life easier for Canada. However, once he found his mojo back, Rauf was unplayable, and two Canadian batters succumbed to his fierce bowling.
Pakistan facing Canada in a must-win encounter
Meanwhile, Pakistan are taking on Canada in what is a must-win encounter for them. They have already lost two games and placed in a precarious situation, for they have no room for error from here on.
First of all, Pakistan would need to win their remaining two fixtures and then hope Ireland lose at least one more game. Further, they would also want the USA not to win any more games, and Canada to face another defeat in this phase.
There will be some net run rate scenarios later, but for now, Pakistan’s main target should be to win their remaining fixtures against Canada and Ireland convincingly. That should be their priority for now.
Pakistan have started well with the ball against Canada, taking wickets at regular intervals not to allow them to break freely. Further, the track also assisted the pacers, as has been the case since the first game in New York, and made life arduous for Canadian batters.
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