Haris Rauf’s five-fer helps Melbourne Stars crush Hobart Hurricane in BBL
Haris Rauf now has seven wickets from two games at an average of 6.71
December 22, 2019
Pakistan’s emerging fast bowler and product of Lahore Qalandars player development programme Haris Rauf has kicked-off his Big Bash League (BBL) with a bang with a 5-fer in his second game for Melbourne Stars.
After taking two wickets on his Big Bash debut, Rauf finished with 5-27 in the match against Hobart Hurricanes to help Melbourne Stars win by 52 runs.
The Qalandars pacer picked up the wickets of Ben McDermott, Macalister Wright, Thomas Rogers, Nathan Ellis and Qais Ahmed to bowl Hurricanes out for 111 in response to the Stars 163-4.
From oblivion to limelight: Haris Rauf credits player development programme for changing his life
The five-wicket haul has also helped Rauf climb to the top position in leading wicket takers of ongoing BBL with seven wickets in two games at an average of 6.71. His figures of 5-27 are also the best by any Pakistani bowler in BBL competitions.
In an earlier interview, Rauf had shared he had never played proper cricket before being picked by Qalandars.
Haris Rauf's BBL journey is culmination of Lahore Qalandars' trust in process: CEO Rana
The pacer was earlier sent to Australia with Qalandars development squad where his impressive performance got everyone’s attention and he earned a contract with the Hawkesbury Cricket Club.
He made his Pakistan Super League debut this year with Lahore Qalandars.
Qalandars COO Sameen Rana said, "This is success of our player development program."
Qalandars’ director cricket operation Aaqib Javed said he was overwhelmed to see Rauf perform well in Australia. "This is great sight for me to see him taking wickets. I pray and hope that he continues to do well in each game he play," Javed said.
“We always believed that we should win the PSL thru a process. The process of building our own players and Haris Rauf is one such player who is a proud product of PDP,” Lahore Qalandars CEO Atif Rana said.
“PSL is all about developing new talent for Pakistan and that’s what we at Lahore Qalandars have been doing from day one. We are not limited to few talent hunts program, we believe in developing players and we will continue doings so,” Rana added.
