Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi and some other former players, however, felt that Haris Rauf was out of line.
Haris Rauf (left) hugs teammate Kamran Ghulam after slapping him during PSL 2022 match earlier. (Source: Twitter)
Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf escaped with a reprimand after he was seen slapping his Lahore Qalandars teammate Kamran Ghulam in a Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2022 match. A source in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said match referee Ali Naqvi only reprimanded Rauf since neither of the umpires had reported the incident to him in Lahore Qalandars’ match against Peshawar Zalmi.
Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi and some other former players, however, felt that Rauf was out of line. “I don’t think it was an incident that should have happened in a match with the world watching, it doesn’t leave a good impression even if Haris didn’t mean it,” Afridi said.
“I hope Haris learns from this incident because it was in bad taste and in future if he repeats it he will be in big trouble,” he added.
The incident caused plenty of criticism on Rauf on social media with many users censuring the fast bowler for his action. Many cricket fans called out Rauf for his action, wondering how a Pakistan team player could react in such a manner just because Ghulam had earlier dropped a catch of his bowling.
Ghulam had dropped Peshawar Zalmi’s Hazratullah Zazai when he attempted to work Haris Rauf’s full delivery away on the leg side. On the penultimate delivery of the very same over, Fawad Ahmed took a fine catch to send back Mohammad Haris back cheaply. As everyone celebrated the wicket with Haris Rauf, Ghulam went towards the pacer for a high-five and that’s when the latter slapped him in frustration.
Watch Haris Rauf slapping Kamran Ghulam here…
Wreck-it-Rauf gets Haris! #HBLPSL7 l #LevelHai l #LQvPZ pic.twitter.com/wwczV5GliZ
— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) February 21, 2022
Even though Ghulam was seen smiling, the bowler was giving him a serious look at him on a couple of occasions. Nonetheless, things did not end there as the slap seemed to have charged up Ghulam who effected a brilliant run out to get rid of Peshawar skipper Wahab Riaz in the 17th over. Haris Rauf then came and hugged the fielder.