Pakistan pace sensation Haris Rauf revealed in a recent interview how Indian cricketers KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya supported him during the early part of his career and how they remembered it all during their recent meeting in Dubai for the India-Pakistan game at the ICC T20 World Cup 2021.
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Talking to paktv.tv, Rauf recalled the time when he was net bowler for the Indian team ahead of India's Test against Australia in Sydney during the 2018/19 tour. The 28-year-old recalled that Rahul and Hardik gave him a lot of confidence and said that he would bowl at the international stage very soon.
Rauf also added that when the three had recently met for the blockbuster clash in Dubai on October 24, Hardik and Rahul had remembered him and that they were both happy for him.
“When I was 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 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,” he said.
Incidentally, Rauf had dismissed Hardik in that game in Dubai, finishing with 1 for 25 in the match that helped Pakistan restrict India to 151. Pakistan had eventually beaten India by 10 wickets to script their maiden victory against their arch-nemesis in World Cup history.
{{/usCountry}}Incidentally, Rauf had dismissed Hardik in that game in Dubai, finishing with 1 for 25 in the match that helped Pakistan restrict India to 151. Pakistan had eventually beaten India by 10 wickets to script their maiden victory against their arch-nemesis in World Cup history.
{{/usCountry}}Rauf had made his international debut for Pakistan in January 2020, in the T20I series against Bangladesh and earned his ODI cap in October that year. In September 2021, he was picked for the World T20 where he played a pivotal role for Pakistan in their unbeaten run in the group stage. He had picked four wickets against New Zealand to win the Man of the Match award in Pakistan's second game.
Rauf has appeared in 34 T20Is and 8 ODIs for Pakistan picking 41 and 14 wickets respectively.