Pakistan’s troubles do not appear to be going away anytime soon. Following Pakistan’s humbling setback against the United States in their T20 World Cup 2024 opener on Thursday, star Haris Rauf was accused of tampering with the ball. Rusty Theron, a former South African pacer who currently plays for the United States senior national cricket team, took to social media, tagging the International Cricket Council (ICC), and leveled a severe complaint against Pakistan experienced speedy Rauf.
Rauf struggled with the ball against the USA, taking just one wicket in four overs while allowing 37 runs. During the match, Theron alleged that the express pacer dragged his nails into the new ball, aiming to cause it to reverse and confuse the American batsmen.
Theron posted on X (previously Twitter): “@ICC, are we just going to pretend Pakistan isn’t scratching the hell out of this newly modified ball? Reversing the ball, which was just changed two overs ago? Harris Rauf is basically running his thumbnail over the ball at the top of his mark. @usacricket #PakistanvsUSA.
ICC has not yet issued an official statement on this topic.
Despite the wicket, and with Naseem Shah and Mohammad Amir bowling superbly in the dying overs, where their goal was to simply execute yorkers, the USA held their nerve in the final over to score 14 runs and thereby tie the score. Haris had two errors in execution, and Aaron Jones punished him with a six over cow corner and a four from Nitish Kumar on the final ball.
