Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf is banking on knowledge gained from the Big Bash League to outsmart India's batters in the T20 World Cup match between the two at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 23.
"If I give my best, they won't be able to play me easily. For the upcoming World Cup match, I'm very happy because it is at the Melbourne Cricket Ground," Rauf, who plays for Melbourne Stars in the BBL, said after at the post-match interaction following Pakistan's six-run win over England in Lahore on Wednesday.
"It is my home ground because I play for the Melbourne Stars, and I have an idea of how the conditions play out there. I've already started planning on how I would bowl against India."
The win in Lahore gave Pakistan a 3-2 series lead in the seven-match T20I series, with Rauf playing a key role so far, topping the wickets charts with eight scalps.
India and Pakistan, who only meet in multi-team tournaments these days, faced each other twice at the Asia Cup in the UAE in August. There, Rauf did not have the biggest impact, going wicketless when India beat Pakistan by five wickets in the first round, and taking one wicket - that of Rohit Sharma to break a half-century opening stand - when Pakistan turned the tables on India in the Super 4s. He was relatively expensive in both games too, going at 8.75 and 9.50 respectively, but finished as runners-up Pakistan's joint-leading wicket-taker.
Playing India twice in the Asia Cup, Rauf said, could take the edge off the nerves that come with the territory. "The match between India and Pakistan is always a high-pressure game. In the World Cup last year, I was feeling so much pressure. But in the past two matches in the Asia Cup, I didn't feel much of it because I knew I just had to give my best."
Edited PTI copy.