by Abdul Habib

Abdur Rauf watched the big final at home and cant wait to join up with the team for the Sri lanka tour.



When I asked Rauf if he was surprised at his selection he said that he'd known about it from before the T20 World Cup. He said Younis Khan had told him that he would be one of the main bowlers on the Sri Lanka tour and had given him a lot of support.

We spoke about Mohammad Irfan and Rauf said that Irfan bowled really well against Pakistan A but that Irfan needs some first class cricket in order to become a more rounded bowler. Rauf thinks that given time Irfan can develop into a very good bowler and he looks forward to captaining Irfan for the Multan region in the near future.

When I asked Rauf what he thought his own chances were of playing in the first XI on the upcoming tour, he said they were very good as only 3 fast bowlers had been picked with Razzaq as the seam bowling all-rounder. Rauf said that he's confident that if he's given a good chance then he can prove that he's got the ability to thrive at international level.

I pointed out to Rauf that Sri Lankan conditions always favour spin and that traditionally fast bowlers dont get a lot to work with. But Rauf remained confident and said that he'd played in Sri Lanka for Pakistan A in 2005 and so had some experience of the conditions.

I told Rauf that I felt he was the most complete fast bowler of the newly promoted bunch and that his experience was something the team was missing. He thanked me and said that he would try his hardest to win the test series for Pakistan and the fans.