- Adelaide Strikers sign Haris Rauf for full BBL|16 season Pakistan pace bowler Haris Rauf joins Adelaide Strikers for the entire KFC BBL|16 season, linking up with Ben Stokes, Matt Short and Mark Chman in a strong international line-up.
- “Adelaide Strikers sign Haris Rauf for the entire BBL|16 season”.
- (Photo Source: Morgan Hancock/) Adelaide Strikers have confirmed the signing of Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf for the entire KFC BBL|16 season.
Adelaide Strikers sign Haris Rauf for full BBL|16 season Pakistan pace bowler Haris Rauf joins Adelaide Strikers for the entire KFC BBL|16 season, linking up with Ben Stokes, Matt Short and Mark Chman in a strong international line-up.
“Adelaide Strikers sign Haris Rauf for the entire BBL|16 season”. (Photo Source: Morgan Hancock/) Adelaide Strikers have confirmed the signing of Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf for the entire KFC BBL|16 season. The 32-year-old will be available throughout the tournament, adding proven pace to the Strikers alongside their already impressive international signings.
Rauf comes after representing the Melbourne Stars at the Big Bash, where he played 33 games as of 2019 and took 56 wickets. His move to Adelaide adds a significant new dimension to the Strikers’ bowling attack under head coach Tim Paine. “We have a talented group and I look forward to contributing as much as I can to help the team qualify for the finals and fight for a championship,” Rauf was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia.
The Strikers have filled their three proved foreign player spots after signing 13 of their allotted 18 players. England all-rounder Ben Stokes and New Zealander Mark Chman are the other international signings, joining a squad that also includes Alex Carey, Mackenzie Harvey, Thomas Kelly, Lloyd Pope, Jason Sangha, Liam Scott, Matt Short, Tom Straker, Henry Thornton and Jerrssis Wadia. “Haris (Rauf) is a proven match-winner who has played at the highest level in international cricket and franchise competitions around the world,” adding, “He is one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket and has the ability to change a game in an instant.”
We look forward to welcoming Haris to Adelaide for the full tournament,” Paine said. What does Rauf bring to the Strikers’ fast-paced attack? Rauf is Pakistan’s second highest wicket-taker in T20 internationals, with 133 dismissals to his name.
In BBL | At 15, he took 20 wickets, achieving a career-best performance in a single Big Bash season. He was also named in the official team of the tournament for this edition. He was also part of the official team of the tournament in BBL|09, the same season in which he scored a hat-trick in his first-ever Big Bash match. During BBL|15, Rauf shared the Golden Arm Award with Gurinder Sandhu, recognizing him as one of the best bowlers in the competition.
His record in franchise cricket outside Australia is equally strong: he has picked up 22 wickets in 19 games between the PSL and Major League Cricket with the San Francisco Unicorns in 2026. Rauf also produced one of the most remarkable individual bowling performances on Australian soil in recent memory when he took 5 for 29 at the Adelaide Oval in 2024, a comeback that helped Pakistan to their first ODI series win in Australia in 22 years. He was most recently part of Pakistan’s victorious ODI Tri-Series team against England and Sri Lanka in October 2026, where he and Shadab Khan put up an unbeaten tenth wicket partnership of 89 runs, Pakistan’s highest for that wicket in ODI Tri-Series cricket.
“The Strikers have a strong squad with world-class players such as Ben Stokes, (Strikers player) Matt Short and Mark Chman, so I am very excited about the opportunity to play alongside them,” Rauf said. When will Rauf make his Adelaide Strikers debut? Rauf is expected to make his first pearance for the Strikers on December 16 against the Sydney Thunder in Canberra.
The BBL|07 champions’ Strikers hope Rauf’s pace and experience will help them qualify for the latter stages of the BBL|16. The Strikers’ team line-up is also reminiscent of their BBL|15 season, when New Zealander Finn Allen was next to the squad. For the BBL|16, the franchise has moved away from that combination and brought in Rauf from the Stars, with the Perth Scorchers among the teams that will challenge them throughout the season.
