Haris Rauf credits Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul for backing him early in his career

Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf has opene up on the conversations he had with all-rounder Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul that helped him hugely during the start of his career. The 28-year-old has been very impressive since his debut for Pakistan in 2020 and has been growing in leaps and bounds. He clocked continuous speeds of above 145 kmph in the recent T20 World Cup 2021 and set the stage on fire with his pace.

Meanwhile, Hardik and Rahul have been seen as India’s future in limited-overs cricket especially and their match-winning abilities make them very special in the side. The former is out of cricketing action in order to recover completely from his back issues and wasn’t part of the South Africa tour while the latter did not have the best of times with his first stint as India’s captain.

Haris Rauf recalls the meeting with Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul

Meanwhile, Haris Rauf was part of a local cricket club Wests Ashfield Leagues Club in Sydney and he was picked up as a net bowler in the Australian side for the 2019 home series against India. In the process, he managed to bowl to Pandya, Rahul and Virat Kohli and thereby had a conversation with them as well.

He noted that in the last meeting between India and Pakistan in T20 World Cup 2021, the speedster had recalled meeting Pandya and Rahul and how they rated him highly to do well in international cricket when he gets a chance.

“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.

“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

India will take on Pakistan again in the T20 World Cup 2022 in the group stages as the schedule was released recently by ICC. The game is scheduled to take place at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 23.