His Melbourne Stars captain Glenn Maxwell is confident in Rauf continuing on his meteoric rise following a stunning spell against the Sydney Thunder.

Plucked from Tasmanian club cricket before the BBL, Rauf cleaned up Matthew Gilkes, Callum Ferguson and Daniel Sams for a final-over hat-trick on Wednesday night.

It was the sixth hat-trick in the BBL's nine-season history, and it came only hours after the fifth when Adelaide's Rashid Khan took one against the Sydney Sixers.

Rauf, 26, has had just three first-class games and was forced to play second-fiddle to Dale Steyn during the legendary quick's brief BBL stint.

But not anymore, with Steyn having returned to South Africa for international duties.

Maxwell said Rauf was more than capitalising on being unfamiliar to Australian batsmen, like fellow internationals Khan and Sandeep Lamichhane before him.

"There's a few teams we haven't played so there's still an opportunity to have that fear factor in the back of their mind before they play against us," Maxwell said.

"If he keeps taking wickets like that, they have every right to be fearful.

"For him to get a hat-trick on a pretty good wicket was outstanding.

"Haris brings something different - an electric youth, that unknown and you're not really sure what's going to happen."

Rauf, who has been sending down deliveries at more than 150 kms/h, has taken the second-most wickets in the BBL with 13 despite having featured in just four games.

In comparison, Daniel Sams has taken 15 wickets but taken part in all of the Thunder's eight games.

The ladder-leading Stars are back in action on Saturday night when they again play struggling rivals the Melbourne Renegades at Marvel Stadium.

Australian Associated Press