Atif Rana views Haris Rauf's selection as stepping stone for Pakistan cricket

CEO of Lahore Qalandars Atif Rana on Thursday said that speedster Haris Rauf's selection in the national squad for the upcoming Bangladesh series was "the first step towards serving Pakistan Cricket."

In an interview with Geo News, Rana expressed that Rauf’s maiden call-up for the national side would be one of many future stars that would rise from the Lahore Qalandars' Player Development Program to represent the country.

"I’m overjoyed and excited to see Haris Rauf being picked for Pakistan. It is very special because it was a long, difficult and challenging process to develop players for Pakistan," Rana said.

"This is success of that long process, and first steam towards our goal. The goal is to provide players to Pakistan Cricket," he said.

Read more: Haris Rauf acknowledges Lahore Qalandars' contribution after being named in Pakistan squad

Meanwhile, the CEO believed that the rise of the 26-year-old was the result of a rigorous process and said that other future stars too would follow suit.

"Rauf has gone through quite a process to get where he is. He started off being selected from the development squad then playing in Australia," he said.

"Others will come through same process, we aren’t rushing to expose them."