In the span of a little over a month, Razaullah has been called up midway through a series, handed his Test debut cap, seen throwing some thunderbolts in England, scored a barely believable 81 in an innings where half the team failed to go past 30, named in a white-ball squad for a home series, and played his debut T20I.
This series of events seems scripted for a fever dream, if not for the fact that the young pacer has not been entirely flawless in this incredible show of skills.
Polishing Razaullah’s fast bowling skills
He was initially called up to compensate for Pakistan’s dearth of express pace bowlers. He did that and only that. He hit 140 kph, which was a welcome sight for a Pakistan side that had forgotten what any ball above 130 kph looks like, but that was about it. The line and length were hardly consistent; in fact, most of the time he simply sprayed the ball with little to no variation.
Pakistan’s head coach Mike Hesson is excited to have someone like Razaullah in the team, but he is even more excited about the prospect of him working with Pakistan’s new bowling coach Shaun Tait. Hesson reckons that under Tait, Razaullah can learn how to channel his pace and bowl more intelligently.
“When I think of Pakistan cricket, I think of genuine pace and unique bowling actions. He’s fresh and raw, but he’s got genuine pace. Even Kusal Mendis, who plays pace well, was beaten by his pace on a few occasions.”
“He will get better with opportunity, and we have to work with him. We’ve got Shaun Tait now, which gives us a chance to have someone with a similar action work with him.”
“He needs to get better at changing his lengths and trusting when to bowl a bouncer and when to bowl a yorker. It’s exciting, and we’ll see more of him over the next few months, that’s for sure.”
Pakistan wrapped the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka 2-1, winning the first two games convincingly. The two teams will now be joined by England for an ODI tri-series, which begins on October 18.
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