Haris Rauf


Haris Rauf is a Pakistani cricketer. He made his international debut for the Pakistan cricket team in January 2020. He made his Twenty20 debut for the Lahore Qalandars in the 2018 Abu Dhabi T20 Trophy on 5 October 2018. In November 2018, he was selected by the Lahore Qalandars in the players' draft for the 2019 Pakistan Super League tournament.

Domestic career

When he was a student in the Islamabad Model College he was more interested in football than cricket, helping his school lift the football trophy and being hailed as the best player of the tournament, but joined the cricket team of International Islamic University, Islamabad, and when its coach asked him to attend the Lahore Qalandars trials to be held in Gujranwala in September 2017 he was initially reluctant before agreeing and being spotted by Aaqib Javed, who pushed him to play cricket in Australia, after which he was selected for Lahore Qalandars for the 2018 Abu Dhabi T20 Trophy, which also marked his domestic career debut.
In March 2019, he was named in Baluchistan's squad for the 2019 Pakistan Cup. He made his List A debut for Baluchistan in the 2019 Pakistan Cup on 2 April 2019. In September 2019, he was named in Northern's squad for the 2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament. He made his first-class debut for Northern in the 2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy on 28 September 2019. In October 2019, the Pakistan Cricket Board named him as one of the six players to watch ahead of the 2019–20 National T20 Cup tournament.
In December 2019, he joined the Melbourne Stars for 2019-20 Big Bash League season as a replacement for Dale Steyn who was injured. He took a five-wicket haul in his second match against the Hobart Hurricanes. On 8 January 2020, he took a hat-trick against the Sydney Thunder, becoming the first Pakistani and first Melbourne Stars bowler to do so in the BBL, with one delivery bowled at 151.3 km/h. On 16 February 2019, he took 4 for 23 and help Lahore Qalandars to win against Karachi Kings.

International career

In January 2020, he was named in Pakistan's Twenty20 International squad for their series against Bangladesh. He made his T20I debut for Pakistan, against Bangladesh, on 24 January 2020.
In May 2020, the Pakistan Cricket Board awarded him with a central contract, in a newly created Emerging Players' category, ahead of the 2020–21 season. In June 2020, he was named in a 29-man squad for Pakistan's tour to England during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, on 22 June 2020, Rauf was one of three players from Pakistan's squad to test positive for COVID-19. Although he had shown no previous symptoms of the virus, he was advised to go into a period of self-isolation. Rauf was eventually replaced in Pakistan's squad by Mohammad Amir, after he had provided five positive tests out of six for COVID-19 in the last month. On 30 July 2020, the PCB confirmed that Rauf had returned two consecutive negative tests, and was therefore eligible to fly to England to join the Pakistan squad.