Haris Rauf speaking about his speed and respect for Shoaib Akhtar in his exclusive interview
PakPassion.net: You bowled at a good pace in BBL 09, but do you feel that with some more work, you can increase your pace further?
Haris Rauf: The BBL 09 was a special experience for me as I had already been to Sydney before as part of the Lahore Qalandars’ Player Development Program so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect, and how to bowl on those pitches. I knew that the players there were good at playing cut and pull shots, so I bowled wicket to wicket and that was a major reason for my success there. Obviously, speed plays a huge role in every fast-bowlers armoury and our coach Aaqib Javed has worked very hard on that aspect with me. To me, the number that counts for any fast-bowler is the average pace that one can bowl at, and currently my average ranges between 143-146KpH. However, since I have a few months at my disposal due to no cricket being played, I intend to work hard and improve my average pace and aim to regularly hit speeds of around 155 KpH in the future.
PakPassion.net: Do you feel that you have the ability to become a fast-bowler in the mould of Shoaib Akhtar?
Haris Rauf: We all know what a great bowler Shoaib Akhtar was and the fact that he worked so hard to generate the pace he could during his playing days. Anyone aspiring to become a bowler like him will need to do the same so I am glad that at the moment, we have a few bowlers who can hit the 140Kph+ mark such as Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Musa Khan, Mohammad Hasnain and myself. With more hard work, all of us can improve further and aspire to serve Pakistan in the same way as Shoaib Akhtar did in the past.