Haris Rauf became first Pakistani to bag hat-trick in BBL

SYDNEY (92 News) – Pacer Haris Rauf on Wednesday became the first Pakistani to bag a hat-trick in the Big Bash League (BBL) while playing against Sydney Thunder. The fast bowler grabbed the wickets of Daniel Sams, Matthew Gilkes and Callum Ferguson and finished with figures of 3/23. One of his deliveries clocked in at a staggering 151.3km/hr. The Pakistani paceman has regularly been bowling deliveries above 145kph and caused a lot of problems for the Thunder batsmen. With 13 wickets to his name at an average of just 7.23 in the league, Haris stands second on the list of highest wicket takers in the BBL so far. While the bowler shines in the BBL, a number of social media users raised questions over Pakistan Cricket Board's failure to pick Haris in the international squad. Hailing from Rawalpindi, Haris worked part-time in a shop as a salesman before his talent was discovered by Lahore Qalanders in 2017. He would earn just 250 rupees a day and some more bucks from playing tape-ball cricket for various clubs. Interestingly, before being discovered by Lahore Qalanders, Rauf had never played with a hardball and all his cricketing experience had been with a tennis ball. Earlier, Haris Rauf had come under fire for his controversial cut-throat celebration, for which Rauf had apologised and adapted a new ‘viewer-friendly’ celebration style. The bowling dynamo, who was a product of the Lahore Qalandars development programme, had previously picked a five-fer in his second game for the Stars. He currently stands among the highest wicket takers in the league.