For most visiting cricketers, the MCG might be an uncomfortable environment, but Haris Rauf will feel at home there.
No bowler on either team will have more T20 experience at the site than Rauf when Pakistan and India play each other in Sunday’s high-profile match.
He started out as a project player for the Lahore Qalandars, progressed to club cricket in Sydney and Hobart, became a star for the Melbourne Stars in the BBL, and then suddenly exploded into the international stage.
He began the journey toward becoming one of the top death bowlers in T20 cricket during his debut season with the Stars in 2019–20. No bowler has taken more wickets in T20I death overs since the year 2020 began than Rauf’s 37. Former List Manager Trent Woodhill, who believes Rauf’s MCG experience could be the key to the outcome of the Pakistan-India match, was one man who helped bring him to the Stars.
Woodhill statement to Espncrinfo
“I think Haris’ experience at the MCG makes Pakistan favourites,” Woodhill told ESPNcricinfo. “I think because [Jasprit] Bumrah is out, that’s a massive loss for India. And they are similar types of bowlers at the MCG where that slower ball grips and yorkers are hard to get under. I know it’s early in the season so things might be a little bit different. But I think the four overs from Haris probably determines the outcome of the game.”
It’s challenging to contest the statistics. He has 11 wickets at a strike rate of 13.6 and an economy rate of 6.92 in seven T20 games at the MCG. In his debut game there for the Stars, against the Sydney Thunder, he scored three goals. Following a string of injuries and some quick thinking from then-general manager Nick Cummins, coach David Hussey, and Woodhill, the Stars couldn’t believe their good fortune when he fell into their lap. What the Stars did not anticipate was how perfectly he would fit the MCG pitch.
His BBL hat-trick is the best illustration of such deception there is. Before Daniel Sams set up for the slower ball deep in his crease and got beaten for pace to be trapped lbw, the bowler used slower balls to dismiss both Matthew Gilks and Callum Ferguson.
Rauf’s victory at the MCG’s death defies accepted wisdom. The drop-in surface’s up-and-down characteristics and the enormous square boundaries are typically used to the pace bowlers’ advantage in the final few overs. In the death overs there, back-of-a-length and slower short balls are typical, with full balls at risk of being clubbed over the short straight boundary.
It’ll be interesting to see how much he goes to that against India who are probably No. 1, with England No. 2, at just staying still and hitting the dead [slower] ball,” Woodhill said. “The Australians would play it differently. The Australians will move around a bit and they might be happy with multiple twos. India, I don’t think they’ll be thinking two straight up or single. They’ll be looking at that dead-ball hit and that’s where I think Haris becomes just so valuable to Pakistan.”