Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf continued his brilliant form in the Big Bash T20 League as he picked up a hat-trick for Melbourne Stars on Wednesday.
Rauf, 26, bowled a brilliant last over in Sydney Thunder’s first innings. He first deceived Matthew Gilkes with a slower ball to have the left-handed batsman caught at fine leg by Nepal’s Sandeep Lamichhane. He then bowled another slower ball to castle Callum Ferguson.
The hat-trick ball to Daniel Sams was fast and straight as he got the batsman out lbw. His finished with figures of 3-23. He took his tally to 13 wickets from four matches in the Big Bash League.
Rauf has made heads turn with his extreme pace and variations during the T20 league and has impressed every time he has bowled for Melbourne this season. He is yet to go for more than 30 runs in his four overs in the BBL.
Rauf is yet to play for Pakistan but that is likely to change this year with the T20 World Cup being held in Australia towards the end of the year.
“The T20 World Cup is coming up in Australia and I’m trying to get fit for that,” Rauf told cricket.com.au. “I’m hoping to represent my country, Pakistan, at higher levels. That’s my only dream, to play for my country.”
Rauf is a product of Pakistan Super League side Lahore Qalandars’ talent-hunt programme. He bowled to Virat Kohli and other Indian batsmen during a training session in Australia in early 2019 during India’s Test tour.
