CRICKET: THE MAKING OF HARIS 2.0

In a clip that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) put out following Pakistan’s 3-0 sweep over Bangladesh last month, Mohammad Haris beamed as his captain Salman Ali Agha quipped that “it was probably the first time he had used his brain.”

The comment was ironic because Haris is known by the moniker ‘Mr Google’ among his teammates, because of his cricketing intelligence.

Such PR content is primarily used to display camaraderie among the players and to provide fans with wholesome moments to cherish. At times, it also provides a peek into the dressing room.

Haris, that night, had become the first non-opening batter from Pakistan to score a century in T20Is, while facing only 45 balls — the second least for any batter from his country — to reach the mark. It was also his first century across all T20s.

Haris had long been censured for being a reckless slogger and considered not good enough for international cricket. He averaged a paltry 13.46 runs per dismissal and lasted only 11 balls per innings before the home T20Is against Bangladesh. Does he think he has silenced his critics for now?

“This is just the beginning, as I have to do more to silence them,” he tells Eos in all humility.

Once derided as a reckless slogger who always played below his potential, Mohammad Haris seemed to be a different player in the recent Bangladesh home T20I series, where he scored his first T20 century. What changed him?

Haris had a sensational start to his international career and played an integral role in Pakistan’s run to the 2022 T20 World Cup final, with the scores of 28 off 11 in a high-pressure, must-win match against South Africa, 31 off 18 against Bangladesh, and 30 off 26 against New Zealand in the semi-final. He was being readied as a second-choice keeper behind Mohammad Rizwan in white-ball cricket, but then slipped into oblivion due to the turbulence that successive ad-hoc management committees brought to the PCB.

His return to the national side in March — after a gap of almost two years — was due to a paradigm shift in Pakistan’s approach towards the T20 format.

In fact, 2024 was a terrible year for Pakistan, as they mustered only nine wins from 24 matches and lost to the USA on their way to the group-stage exit in the T20 World Cup that year. Their sluggish rate of runs accumulation was deemed the reason behind the abject results. Since the start of 2022 until the end of 2024, Pakistan’s run rate of 8.04 was the fifth worst among the 12 full-member teams.

After the ignominy of the World Cup, Pakistan benched their two most consistent but slow run-getters in Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan and doubled down on the philosophy of batting with intent and aggression by presenting their most recent set of changes — Agha as captain and Mike Hesson as head coach — as requisites for modern-day cricket.

But Pakistan’s first T20I series without Babar and Rizwan resulted in a 4-1 drubbing in New Zealand. (This was Aaqib Javed’s last series as Pakistan’s head coach and Agha’s first.) Haris, who had been added to the top-order to inject aggression, managed only 11 runs in 16 balls across the first two matches — a six-ball duck marking his first international outing since 2023. He posted his highest T20I score of 41 in the third match, but subsequently finished the series with an abysmal 2 and 11.

“There is enormous pressure when you are playing for your country and I could not sleep before the third T20I, as I kept thinking about how to score runs,” he recalls. “But, the coaches and the captain continued to show their trust in me, which motivated me.

“I spoke to the Pakistan fast bowlers about what possible bowling plans are against me. I talked to Naseem Shah, [Mohammad] Wasim Junior, Abbas Afridi and Hasan [Ali] Bhai and their insights were extremely helpful. They told me that aggressive batters like Fakhar Zaman and me do not have to go overboard with our shots.

“I used to try to hit the ball behind square unnecessarily or shuffle down the leg side without any reason. They told me to just stay on the wicket, as my presence was enough to create pressure for the opposition. I worked on that and realised that the bowlers bowled bad balls to me because of that pressure,” Haris says.

Haris’ astuteness against Bangladesh turned heads. He scored almost half of his runs in T20Is in those three matches and capped the series with a scintillating 107 not out off 46, smashing seven sixes and eight fours as Pakistan chased down 197 with 2.4 overs to spare.

“I entered the Bangladesh series under pressure. Previously, I had an excuse of being in alien conditions, but now I was playing at home and there was no hiding. But, the century gave me a lot of confidence. It assured me that I could play big innings. I have been tagged as someone who is only good enough for 25 to 30 runs. Even my coach here in Peshawar used to ask me when I would score more than 30 runs.

“I started to question myself too,” he says.

The line between batting with ultra or controlled aggression is often blurred and whether the brand that a team played with on a particular day was correct or not is determined only in hindsight, based on the result. That’s the sad reality of the result-oriented business. But, it is important that teams learn lessons.

“We were not smart enough in New Zealand and were slogging rather blindly,” Haris admits. “We had meetings with the coaches after the New Zealand series and discussed how we have to be smart while staying aggressive…

“We have ingrained smartness in our batting by keeping the scoreboard ticking, which puts pressure on the opposition. We now look to pick favourable match-ups, make sure we don’t take unnecessary risks when we have scored enough boundaries in an over, and communicate to build partnerships.”

Convincing players to adapt according to the new demands can often be a challenge, as elite players can be too arrogant to change their playing styles. But Haris has brought in a new philosophy. The first signs of that were on the night of May 28, when he scored only seven off the first eight balls to stabilise Pakistan’s innings after they had lost both openers in the first eight balls.

He plundered 24 off the next nine. He made 41 off 25 in the next game, as Pakistan posted 201 in both the first two matches.

“There will be failures with this approach, but now we have a captain and a team management who are ready to back us and own those failures,” he says. “Previously, that was not the case, and it used to sow thoughts in our minds that perhaps we should play to secure our places after a couple of failures.

“Our coaches have realised that we are capable players and they are working with us on how they can convert our potential into runs on the field. I am working very closely with our batting coach Hanif [Malik] Bhai. I tend to think over-aggressively when I bat, but now I communicate with him through different signals when I am in the middle and it helps me to stay calm. It has improved my game.”

Haris understands the message in the irony of what his captain, Agha, had said with reference to his moniker, Mr Google.

“That nickname has been applicable in every aspect of my cricket but the batting,” he says laughing. “I have no idea why that is the case. I give the best advice when I am in the dressing room, keeping the wickets, or captaining a side. My teammates, such as Saim Ayub, question where all my intelligence goes when I am batting.

“But, I am working towards bringing that intelligence in my batting now. It is 2025 and it is about time I had an update.”

The writer is a former PCB media manager.
He can be reached at ahsannagi@gmail.com
X: @ahsannagi

Published in Dawn, EOS, July 20th, 2025