Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf who become the talk of the town after his heroics in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE, revealed that he refused to take the Team India jersey from former India captain MS Dhoni. The Pakistan speedster instead asked Dhoni to gift him a Chennai Super Kings kit. Rauf met Dhoni after India vs Pakistan match in the T20 WC in UAE. Dhoni had retired from international cricket but was part of the Indian squad as the mentor in the last T20 WC.
The legend & capt cool @msdhoni has honored me with this beautiful gift his shirt. The "7" still winning hearts through his kind & goodwill gestures. @russcsk specially Thank you so much for kind support. pic.twitter.com/XYpSNKj2Ia
— Haris Rauf (@HarisRauf14) January 7, 2022
In a Grade Cricket podcast, Rauf said, "I met MS Dhoni after the game against India at the T20 World Cup last year. I asked him to give me one of his shirts. But I told him that I wanted a CSK jersey and not the Team India one. He told me that he will surely send me that. I finally received it when I was in Australia."
After receiving the signed CSK jersey from Dhoni, the Pakistan cricketer shared photos on social media. He also thanked MS for his kind gesture.
Rauf also revealed that he was India's net bowler for the Australia tour in 2018-19 where he bowled against Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli while Hardik Pandya was bowling along with him. Rauf said that Pandya boosted his confidence and also predicted that he will soon represent Pakistan.
"The Indian team's manager wanted some net bowlers who could bowl to the batters in Australia. I felt it would be a great opportunity for me to bowl to international cricketers. I bowled to the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli in the nets. Hardik Pandya was bowling alongside me and he told me that I was doing good and that he's sure that I'd soon be playing for the Pakistan team," he said.
