Meet cricketer who played tape-ball matches to finance education, bowls at over 150 kmph, plays for…

Cricketers face significant struggles in their careers like dealing with their performances, travelling for matches, dealing with injuries, media scrutiny and much more. But all this comes after a long struggle and focus towards the sport and making it into the national team. One such cricketer is a Pakistani pacer, who once played tape-ball matches to finance education. Haris Rauf is one of the fastest bowlers the in history of the game as he once bowled a delivery of 159 kmph against England. This was not his first and last time as he has bowled many deliveries over 150 kmph in his career.

Pakistan fast-bowler Haris Rauf, popularly known for bowling in the death overs, has established himself as a formidable force specifically in the 20-over format. He is also the second Pakistan bowler to pick 100 wickets in the short cricket format. He was also one of the most successful bowlers in the Pakistani side in the 2022 T20 World Cup. But this successful journey of Haris did not come easy and had to face a lot of hardship in the initial days.

Haris Rauf's struggle

Before playing hard-ball cricket, Rauf used to play tape-ball cricket, which ultimately prepared him for the bigger challenges in international cricket. The speedster once mentioned that his family struggled to the extent that he had to even sleep in the kitchen.

''The boys, who play tape-ball professionally in Pakistan, easily make around 2-2.5 lakh per month. I used to earn that and would give it to my mother but I never told my father about earning this much," he once stated.

''My father has three brothers and all lived together. My father had one big room and when my uncles got married, my father gave his room to his brothers. Eventually, we reached the point where we were sleeping in the kitchen,'' he added.

 

 

 

 

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Rauf's career at a glance

Haris Rauf has so far played 79 matches and picked 110 wickets with an average of 21.28. He has also played 48 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and took 85 wickets, with the best bowling spell against Afghanistan. He took a fifer in the game and gave just 18 runs.