Why are you socially averse to Mohammad Haris?
It’s time for Babarians and Rizwanians to smell the coffee
I know you want to swing your sword at me like an Edo period Samurai, but don’t unsheath your sword just yet.
Think of it like that generic action movie where the protagonist magically gets the police or crime syndicate chasing after him the entire time to hear him out before pulling the trigger (because well, he’s the protagonist, why would he be shot anyway?)
Technically speaking, as the writer of this article, I am the protagonist, so I’m automatically granted immunity, which Donald Trump only wishes he had.
They say that if you want to convince people to take specific actions, learn copywriting. Trump doesn’t need to copywrite, but for the sake of modern-day T20 cricket, I’ll be taking a stab at it today by asking a simple question: Why are you socially averse to Mohammad Haris?
Is it because other people tell you to be?
If that’s the case, do you not have your own spine?
Do you not have your own brain that you can't think for yourself?
Why must you rely on what society is saying?
Is it because conservatism is deeply rooted in the annals of Pakistan cricket?
Do you find comfort in conforming to principles established in prehistoric times?
Rules are meant to be broken for a reason you know.
Besides, haven't you heard the saying that as times change, people change?
The boomers up top haven't, for why else would they say that attacking every ball is a mockery of the gentlemen's game?
That doesn't mean you shouldn't evolve with the times though.
“But they’re right! Strike rates are overrated!”
Is that so?
Then what saved Pakistan’s face after being put into bat during the the 2021 T20 World Cup semifinal against Australia?
What propelled Pakistan to a respectable total during the the 2022 Asia Cup group stage match against India after every batter struggled to get going?
What about the final against Sri Lanka? Why were they unable to chase down 171 despite being gifted 10 free runs before the first legal delivery?
We mustn’t forget the icing on the cake either: the 2022 T20 World Cup final against England.
The reality is that powerplay maximization is key in modern-day T20 cricket; it’s how teams have effortlessly broken the Royal Challengers Bangalore's iconic 263/5 record from 14 years ago.
It's easier than ever now; it happened four times this season!
Sure, the Impact Player rule, a noticeable decline in bowling quality this IPL, and standardized pitches all played a role in making this possible, but there’s a reason you’ll hear batters in post-match interviews and press conferences talk about the importance of laying a foundation in the powerplay almost every T20 match: the average powerplay run rate across those four innings was 15.41.
But Pakistan falls well behind the modern-era benchmark in T20Is since 2022, only bettering Sri Lanka, Ireland, and Afghanistan.
So now let me ask you this: who was the last Pakistani batter you saw maximize the powerplay in a T20I tournament?
The correct answer is Mohammad Haris.
Remember that cameo he played as an injury replacement for Fakhar Zaman during the last T20 World Cup at age 19 against South Africa when Pakistan were on the brink of elimination?
The streets won’t forget about it anytime soon. I mean to scoop Anrich Nortje’s express pace on only the second ball of his he faced, and that too 10 balls into his innings? When was the last time you saw Babar and Rizwan do that?
Never.
But this happens to go against the socially acceptable approach of batting in Pakistan, so what do you do? Conveniently forget about it as though you have a goldfish’s memory.
Haris is unarguably Pakistan's best T20 batter right now, but unfortunately for him, it's because of you that it's taboo to bat like that back home.
He’s like the gifted kid in the classroom who gets picked on for being different from everyone else; he’s him.
To be him means that as per the established social norms, you must suffer by yourself, with no one to share the pain with since no one wants to be your friend. But had he been in the same age group as Glenn Maxwell and also happened to be an Australian living in Victoria, they’d instantly become best friends.
You say that a batter is “rash, irresponsible” if they get out playing a funky shot early in the innings, but growing up, Maxwell thought otherwise. He’d never think he was wrong in committing to whatever shot he chose to play that got him out; sometimes he just had to accept that he got out to a good ball.
The law of attraction suggests that you attract what you are, so in the eyes of the students attending this imaginary school where Maxwell and Haris also go, it’s only natural that two of the biggest freaks became best friends. But we know how the story ends: Maxwell went on to become an undisputed white ball GOAT, while his bullies beg for forgiveness at the high school reunion.
And yet, even after all he's achieved with this modus operandi, he still never hears the end of it when he gets out playing a funky shot. But the beauty in this is that Haris is on the same path as Maxwell.
Ask him if he’d prefer playing a 10-ball 30 or a 40-ball 50 in a T20, his answer is the former, recognizing the importance of positive impact in this format.
He also guarantees you PSL fifties if he gets to open, since he views opening to be the easiest in contrast to the demands of playing in the middle order or finishing an innings. Haris isn’t nicknamed Mr.Google for no reason; he’s searched up everything there is to know about the demands of modern-day T20 cricket. As American venture capitalist Paul Graham would say, Haris views his approach to T20 cricket as ironclad, and yours as wrong.
Haris also understands what it means to be him, in how players like Maxwell are bound to fail most of the time (the notion even more true for finishers). He’s also aware of how much the Pakistani general public is seduced by consistency and fat averages, so his batting approach and mode of dismissals are an instant turn-off for them.
But he doesn't care.
He swipes left instantly, for it's all about maximizing deliveries for him; he won't slow down to reach milestones at the cost of the team's success. Instead, you can find that quality in the latest shiny new toy the locust swarm is swarming towards: Usman Khan.
Against Islamabad United at Rawalpindi, he was hitting full tosses for singles during the last two overs to reach his century. Sure, he still did strike at 200, but United went on to pull off a last-ball heist courtesy of Colin Munro's 40-ball 84 striking at 210. ESPNCricinfo's Most Valuable Player metric adjudged his knock as the most impactful too, so for all we know, had it not been for Usman's slowdown, United may not have even gone on to chase down 229 successfully.
But the locust swarm turned a blind eye to this.
They wanted him to start in the T20 World Cup, not even just be a part of the squad.
He was the solution to Pakistan's lack of intent at the top according to them, with PSL career numbers of 57.5 | 159.3, scoring 430 runs averaging 107.5 striking at 164.12 across 7 matches this season as well. Considering he didn't start at the beginning of the tournament yet still achieved these numbers, it's no wonder the locust swarm established the Usman Khan FC colony and began loudly buzzing for his inclusion.
King Babar retained his crown with 569 runs, and the locust swarm claimed that Usman would've dethroned him had he played all of Sultan's matches, and he probably would've to be fair. But this stemmed from their belief that he was the next Chris Gayle Pakistan were about to miss out on all this time.
If there is anybody in Pakistan who is the next Gayle, it’s Haris.
Notice how aggressive Haris is against length and back-of-length pace deliveries compared to Babar and Rizwan.
These are lengths that even amid all the run fests we saw this IPL, teams have struggled to attack them, an indicator of just how high Haris’ ceiling is.
He shows similar intent against good length spin too, a quality well worth its gold in the Caribbean, where teams often bowl spin from both ends after the powerplay to dry up the scoring rate as we saw this T20 WC.
It is also a rare hitting attribute that elite batters like Heinrich Klaasen have. Most batters can easily smash overpitched spin deliveries, but only a few can smash good length deliveries as well.
This alone merited Haris’ selection for the T20 WC. Maximizing the powerplay on better surfaces such as Bridgetown and Gros Islet was key to staying ahead of the game, especially when looking to break the backbone of chases in the context of net run rate. West Indies did this against the USA at Bridgetown, where Pakistan would've played 2 Super 8s fixtures had they qualified like the ICC wanted them to. Haris attacks from ball one too; his 10-ball SR is 147.15 compared to Babar's 114.31 and Rizwan's 107.62.
And on the topic of this T20 WC, we can't forget Haris' performances in last year's Lanka Premier League for B-Love Kandy to help them lift the trophy. He scored 213 runs across 7 matches averaging 30.42 striking at 138.31 with 2 fifties and a top score of 81 as the 9th highest run scorer. He opened in every match too; a testament to his guarantee of scoring PSL fifties if he opens.
But right now, due to a phenomenon known as recency bias, the Pakistan Cricket Board's selection committee is socially averse to Haris, with the recency bias stemming from his lack of PSL performances this season. Across 10 matches, he scored 142 runs averaging 15.77 striking at 132.71, with a top score of 40 that came off 25 deliveries against United in Qualifier 2.
The board is so socially averse to him currently that Azam Khan's replacement in the New Zealand T20I series right after the PSL was someone who performed worse than him: his Peshawar Zalmi teammate Haseebullah Khan, who scored 78 runs across 7 matches, averaging 13 striking at 136.84 with a top score of 37.
The air suddenly smells fishy now, doesn't it?
If you can smell it, it's a sign for you to begin accepting Haris for who he is.
Who else in the domestic circuit at that time could've come in and played the cameo Haris did against the Proteas, and that too as an injury replacement?
No one.
You're coping if you think that Babar and Rizwan could have if it was "their day", but I wouldn't blame you for instinctively gravitating toward them.
Anchor batters like these two personify the Desi parents' dream of their child becoming a doctor or engineer depending on their gender, for akin to how society harps on about the stability anchors provide by name with the bat in this format, they say your life will be stable if you sell your soul to one of those two professions, just in time to begin being hounded about marriage.
They want you to dream big, but not outside the realms society has deemed stable.
Ironic isn't it?
Of course it is.
Irony died a thousand deaths after that sentence.
You have your own dreams, don't you?
Is there not a being you genuinely aspire to become that happens to deviate from what society views as safe?
Yes there is; by definition to dream big means that the sky's the limit.
You just fear the risks that come with it.
You don't want to disappoint your parents either, so you conform to what they say and become living proof of why Solomon Asch's findings on conformity hold true to this day for the rest of your life, all under the false belief of staying normal as per societal norms.
But Haris personifies deviating from them.
He finds himself traversing a path that though treacherous and unconventional, he knows will be very rewarding in the end, for he has surrendered to his nature.
It is tough at first to surrender to your nature and accept who you really are, but Haris has made peace with it.
He knows the gift nature has imparted him and what he’s meant to become, recognizing that this is his road to 10; the road to becoming him.
If you calm your raging hate boner towards Haris briefly, you'll recognize that this is shaping up to be another story of the sky being the limit.
So why is it you're socially averse to him?
Are you worried about it affecting your interpersonal relationships?
If that’s the case, you need better friends.
If you’ve been a part of Cricket Twitter long enough, odds are you’ve come across this image on your timeline.
We can all agree that Jos Buttler is a white ball GOAT, but why didn't the English selectors become socially averse to him after 2-3 matches?
He flopped in his first 11 T20I matches, why wasn’t he dropped?! How was he still able to see the light of day in an English jersey by his 12th T20I?
In Haris, there is a bit of Gayle there, a bit of Maxie in him and when he walks, there’s a bit of Buttler as well.
A side-by-side comparison of Haris and Usman’s batting shows that in no sane world should the latter be ahead of the former.
Haris flopped this PSL, but how can you forget everything he’s already achieved in his career so far just like that?
The world's a cruel place.
You know this by firsthand experience, so why don't you do your part in changing the societal norm?
Why can't you view Haris in the same light as Babar and Rizwan after a few failures?
Why must Haris be a "fucking donkey" while Babar and Rizwan are still gorgeous after the same number of failures?
Babarians and Rizwanians, you’re not unique.
You’re just like us Harisians.
These are merely stereotypes we've created in our minds as an archetype, a concept devised by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung.
We all desire the same outcome at the end of the day, so what’s with the out-group homogeneity effect you’ve created?
Can’t we just let bygones be bygones?
On behalf of all Harisians, I extend this offer for you to become our ally and accept us.
If you choose to decline, know that you can't fool us.
We know that once Haris enters his prime, you'll start saying that he was your favorite player all along; we are familiar with your game. It’s like how MrBeast talks about being crazy until you’re successful.
Suddenly, Haris’ tenacity and drive will seem great to you, but he won’t need to hear it once he’s in his prime. He needs to hear it now, with his back wrongfully against the wall.
But the irony is that just like Maxwell, even after all he would have achieved, all it'd take is one failed sweep attempt for you to turn your back on him yet again.
So will you ever learn?
Who knows.
Regardless, us Harisians will always have the last laugh.
I’ve said what I had to say, but if you're still in the same boat, you may swing your sword at me. But please swing it quicker than Rizwan's powerplay strike rate of 111.29 this PSL.
JUST TOO GOOD.