Haris Rauf recalls KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya's encouraging words that gave him confidence

Rauf was net bowler for India on their 2018-19 Australia tour.

Pakistani pacer Haris Rauf on Monday revealed how Indian cricketers KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya supported him when he was a net bowler for India during their tour to Australia in 2018-19. 

Haris Rauf came into the limelight after his performance for Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League (BBL) 2019-20. The right-arm pacer took 20 wickets in 10 matches. His heroics even earned him a Pakistan call-up for the T20I series against Bangladesh and made his debut in the same series. 

Since then, he has only risen in ranks and has represented Pakistan in 34 T20Is and 8 ODIs, taking 42 and 14 wickets respectively. Rauf also played an instrumental role for his side in the T20 World Cup 2021. He took four-for against New Zealand and helped the Babar Azam-led side reach the semi-final of the marquee tournament.

In 2019 Haris Rauf was playing for a local cricket club, Wests Ashfield Leagues Club, in Sydney and at the same time, India had toured Australia for the Test series. The right-arm pacer then was appointed as the net bowler for Team India. 

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Speaking to paktv.tv, Pakistani pacer Haris Rauf recalled how KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya gave him a lot of confidence when he was a net bowler for India in Sydney, saying that he would soon bowl at the international stage as he has the potential. 

He also talked about meeting the duo during the T20 World Cup 2021, saying that they remembered the old chats and were really happy for him.

“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. 

“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,” Haris Rauf said. 

Notably, Haris Rauf dismissed Hardik Pandya in the T20 World Cup 2021 clash against India and returned with the figures of 1/25. Pakistan thrashed Men in Blue by 10 wickets to register their first win over them in the history of World Cups. 

(Paktv.tv inputs)