LAHORE: Pakistan’s young wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Haris has cited the examples of India’s Rishabh Pant and Australia’s former cricketer Adam Gilchrist while expressing his desire to play all three formats of the game.
While speaking in an interview with Geo News, Haris said that he trying to become more patient as a batter on the crease.
“I need to become more patient as a batter and this is something I’m working in the ongoing training camp,” Haris said on Sunday.
“I can hit fours and sixes but I need to add singles and doubles to my game as well. I’m working on improving my ground shots,” he added.
Haris said that he wants to play all formats rather than becoming a T20 specialist.
“I want to play all formats for Pakistan. Just because I play at a fast rate doesn’t mean that I’m only suited to T20 cricket. Players like Rishabh Pant play at the same pace in all formats of the game. Even Adam Gilchrist in the past used to do the same,” he said.
He also lauded Mohammad Rizwan while talking about the competition for the role of wicketkeeper in the Pakistan team.
“Rizwan is the first choice as wicketkeeper for Pakistan team. There is always stiff competition for the role of wicketkeeper in a team, which is precisely the reason why I’m trying to become a better fielder so that I can play in the team purely as a batter,” he said.
“I learn a lot from Rizwan about the game. Whenever I’m not able to perform well, Rizwan is usually the first person to support me. He also gave me many opportunities when we used to play for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he added.
The right-hander also talked about the positive impact on his batting after facing Pakistan’s pacers in the nets.
“Pakistan’s fast bowlers are the best in the world which helps us a lot during the training sessions. During the T20 World Cup, playing our bowlers made it easier for me to face the opponents’ pacers,” he said.
Haris has played five ODIs and nine T20Is over the course of his brief career so far.
Sohail Imran Sohail Imran is a senior reporter for Geo News.- Adam Gilchrist