BBL 2019-20: Glenn Maxwell hails ‘limitless superstar’ Haris Rauf after pacer’s return to Melbourne Stars

Glenn Maxwell, the Melbourne Stars’ skipper, has been in awe of their premier speedster Haris Rauf. The fast bowler became the first from the Stars to notch a hat-trick in the BBL 2019-20. The performances also earned him a Pakistan call-up for the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh. The 26-year-old has now returned to the Stars after his national commitments.

Rauf, who has 16 wickets to his name, is likely to break into the eleven right away in the Qualifier against the Sydney Sixers. Ahead of the contest at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Maxwell said that Rauf doesn’t have the word ‘limit’ in his dictionary and is an ‘absolute superstar’.

“There’s no limit to what he can do. He’s an absolute superstar,” Maxwell was quoted as saying to Melbourne radio station SEN. “We probably didn’t get as much out of him as we could have. With a slight language barrier, you can sometimes miss a few things, but he still performed unbelievably well,” Maxwell stated.

Haris Rauf is an absolute entertainment machine: Maxwell

Rauf is currently sixth on the list of highest wicket-takers in the BBL, having racked up 16 wickets in seven matches. Among the leading bowlers in the tournament, Rauf has a strike-rate and average of 10 and 11.59, the best amongst the top rankers. He has been frugal as well with an economy of 6.89.

“He got a truckload of wickets in a short amount of time, and for a while there he was second on the wicket-taking list and had played half the games everyone else had played. That was just the impact he had on the tournament,” Maxwell mentioned.

Rauf has come up the ranks after representing the Lahore Qalandars in the 2018 edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Maxwell was astonished by the pacer’s rise from club cricket to the Pakistan national team. The skipper also hailed him as the ‘story of the BBL’.

“He’s an absolute entertainment machine and people love coming to watch that. The story of him coming from club cricket into Pakistan eyes was absolutely outstanding, and was the story of the BBL tournament for mine,” the Stars’ captain added.