Haris Rauf

By and large, the quixotic idea of a Pakistan fast bowler suddenly emerging upon everyone's radar fully formed is something of an urban legend. But that is almost precisely how Haris Rauf appeared, as if conjured simply by the power of the fast-bowling spirit that always seems to lurk around the country.

Growing up completely outside of the formal Pakistan cricket system, a 24-year-old Rauf showed up to audition for Lahore Qalandars' player development programme in 2017, having only played tape-ball cricket until that point. He caught everyone's eye with his extreme pace, and after a successful season with Qalandars and a whirlwind BBL summer, he was fast-tracked into the national side.

It was a slow start, but Rauf emerged as a moments player, finding the ability to gear himself into purple patches when his pace makes him just about unplayable. His form in the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups remains the high-water mark of his international career, and briefly, a partnership with Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah threatened to become a formidable ODI pace unit. In November 2024, he ripped through Australia's middle order, taking 5 for 29 in Adelaide to lead Pakistan to their first ODI series win in the country in 22 years.

Consistency, though, has continued to elude him, and the economy rate remains stubbornly high for a bowler who has always hovered around the edges of the elite without quite making it there. In the winter of 2023, run-ins with the PCB didn't help, when he found himself stripped of his central contract for opting not to play a Test series against Australia, though it was reinstated a few weeks later.

But it is white-ball cricket, and more specifically T20s, where he occasionally threatens to smash that glass ceiling and establish himself among the absolute best. He played a big role in Lahore Qalandars winning back-to-back PSL titles, taking 16 wickets in the 2022 edition and 17 in 2023, and remains sought after in T20 leagues around the world as well. During the 2024 T20 World Cup, he became the fastest to get to 100 T20I wickets among Pakistan's bowlers, reaching the milestone in 71 matches.