Haris Rauf Headlines The Hundred Auction as 14 Pakistan Players Make Final Longlist

Haris Rauf is one of the marquee names for the men's Hundred auction, set to take place on March 12 in London. He's among 14 Pakistan players in the final longlist, alongside other big names like Aiden Markram, David Miller, Sunil Narine, and Daryl Mitchell. Rauf, who has played for Welsh Fire in The Hundred, has taken 16 wickets across two seasons and is expected to be a hot pick in the auction. Rauf is one of nine Pakistan players who have previously featured in the Hundred, taking 16 wickets across his two seasons with Welsh Fire. He was also the leading wicket-taker at the recent Big Bash League, where he played under new Trent Rockets coach Peter Moores at Melbourne Stars. Pakistan's white-ball specialists, including Haris Rauf, are likely to be available for The Hundred 2026, despite the tournament overlapping with their Test series against West Indies in the Caribbean. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) needs to grant No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) for these players to participate. The Hundred 2026 will run from July 21 to August 16, and the latter stages coincide with the start of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). Sahibzada Farhan, the leading run-scorer in the T20 World Cup 2026, has been surprisingly left out of The Hundred 2026 auction longlist. Despite scoring centuries against Namibia and Sri Lanka, Farhan's limited overseas franchise league experience might have contributed to his omission. The 29-year-old Pakistani opener had expressed hope of being picked up at the auction, but ultimately, 14 other Pakistani players made the cut, including Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, and Shadab Khan. The Hundred 2026 will feature private investors for the first time, with three teams renamed due to IPL links: MI London, Sunrisers Leeds, and Manchester Super Giants. Ben Stokes, England's Test captain, did not register for the auction. He worked as a mentor at Northern Superchargers last summer and will instead focus on his preparation for England's Test series against Pakistan, which starts three days after the Hundred final. Moeen Ali, who reversed his decision on retiring from English domestic cricket to sign for Yorkshire in the Blast, was absent from the longlist. The men's longlist released by the ECB last month featured 63 Pakistani players among the 710 names who registered for the auction, and teams were asked to submit a list of around 75-100 players that they were most interested in signing by the end of last week.