Haris Rauf

By and large, the quixotic idea of a Pakistan fast bowler suddenly emerging upon everyone’s radar fully formed is something of an urban legend. But that is almost precisely how Haris Rauf appeared, as if conjured simply by the power of the fast-bowling spirit that always seems to lurk around the country.Growing up completely outside of the formal Pakistan cricket system, a 24-year-old Rauf showed up to audition for Lahore Qalandars’ player development programme in 2017, having only played tape-ball cricket until that point. He caught everyone’s eye with his extreme pace, and after a successful season with Qalandars and a whirlwind BBL summer, he was fast-tracked into the national side.It was a slow start, but Rauf emerged as a moments player, finding the ability to gear himself into purple patches when his pace makes him just about unplayable. His form in the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups remains the high-water mark of his international career, and briefly, a partnership with Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah threatened to become a formidable ODI pace unit.Consistency, though, has continued to elude him, and the economy rate remains stubbornly high for a bowler who has always hovered around the edges of the elite without quite making it there. In the winter of 2023, run-ins with the PCB didn’t help, when he found himself stripped of his central contract for opting not to play a Test series against Australia, though it was reinstated a few weeks later.But it is white-ball cricket, and more specifically T20s, where he occasionally threatens to smash that glass ceiling and establish himself among the absolute best. He remains sought after in T20 leagues around the world, and is also a fixture in the Pakistan side, and became just the second bowler from the country to take 100 wickets in the shortest format after Shadab Khan.Danyal RasoolHaris Rauf, a Pakistan fast bowler renowned for his blistering pace and deadly yorkers, consistently delivers impactful performances for the national team.