Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf has revealed how Indian cricketers KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya supported him during the early days of his career. Notably, Rauf had met the Indian duo during India’s tour of Australia in 2018-19, when he was a net bowler for the touring party.
During that time, Rauf played for a local cricket club – Wests Ashfield Leagues Club – in Sydney and bowled to Indian players in the nets, including Virat Kohli, Rahul and Pandya. The 28-year-old recalled that Rahul and Hardik raised his confidence and said he would soon bowl at the international stage.
“When I was a net bowler for India, I had bowled to them in Sydney in the nets. So I had told them once that I would one day bowl to them in an international game. And both Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul had told me that I have the potential to bowl at an international level. They gave me a lot of confidence,” said Rauf during an interview at Paktv.tv.
Further, Rauf also recalled the meeting with Indian players during the T20 World Cup in November 2021 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Pakistani speedster mentioned that both Rahul and Pandya remembered him when the two sides met in their opening clash at the global showpiece event.
“Then, when I met them recently at the T20 World Cup, they remembered all our conversations. We had a discussion over it as well, and they were really happy for me watching me play for Pakistan. When you play with good players, you learn all the good things. I always try to learn good things from such players,” added Rauf.
Rauf debuted for Pakistan in January 2020 in the T20I series against Bangladesh and earned his ODI cap in October same year. In September 2021, he was picked for the T20 World Cup, where he impressed one and all with his sheer pace. So far, the right-armer has played 34 T20Is and 8 ODIs for Pakistan taking 41 and 14 wickets, respectively.
