Haris completes 100 wickets in T20I cricket

Before start of the T20 World Cup match against Canada, Haris Rauf was one away from becoming just the second Pakistani bowler to take 100 wickets in men’s T20Is

By Abdul Mohi Shah
June 12, 2024
Pakistans Haris Rauf celebrates after taking a wicket at the Gabba in Brisbane. — AFP/File
Pakistan's Haris Rauf celebrates after taking a wicket at the Gabba in Brisbane. — AFP/File

LONG ISLAND (NY): Haris Rauf became the second Pakistani bowler to have taken 100 wickets in T20 cricket when he removed Canadian wicketkeeper-batsman Shreyas Movva (2) in his second over of the day.

He soon had his 101th wicket, second in the over as Ravindarpal Singh (0) survived just two deliveries before edging one to Fakhar Zaman.

Before start of the T20 World Cup match against Canada, Haris Rauf was one away from becoming just the second Pakistani bowler to take 100 wickets in men’s T20Is (Shadab Khan -- 107 wickets) and the 14th bowler to do so overall; Rauf has taken at least two wickets in six of his eight men’s T20Is in 2024.

Iftikhar Ahmed (998 runs) dropped from the playing XI was on the cusp of becoming the ninth batter to score 1,000 runs for Pakistan in men’s T20Is; Iftikhar has not been dismissed for fewer than two runs in any of his last 11 innings in the format.

Some other facts before the start of match against Canada are as follows: Pakistan lost to the USA in their opening match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, making it the first time that they failed to beat an associate nation in the men’s T20I format, having won each of their 12 prior games in the format.

This is just the second time that Pakistan have lost each of their first two matches in an edition of an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, after having done so in 2022 as well; never have the Shaheens lost each of their first three games on an edition in tournament history.

Pakistan batted at a strike rate of 97.2 and 83.3 during the Powerplay against India and USA respectively; the last time the Shaheens registered a strike rate of less than 100 in consecutive men’s T20I games was in their first two games of the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, against India and Zimbabwe respectively.

Pakistan bowlers have conceded runs at an economy rate of 8.77 in men’s T20Is in 2024, their highest such rate in the format in a single calendar year and just the second time that they have conceded an economy of more than eight runs an over (8.62 in 2019).