He took six wickets across three matches.
From being labelled as the coach’s favourite to becoming a mainstay in India’s white-ball setup, Harshit Rana has come a long way in his year-long career. With bowling in all phases of the game, the 24-year-old is also a perfect No.8 batter for India. To enhance his skills, Rohit Sharma’s non-negotiable advice has taken his game to the next level.
Speaking on the MensXP YouTube Channel, Rana shared how Rohit’s advice helped him get the wicket of Alex Carey on the Australia tour.
He said, ” Shubman [Gill] asked to add a slip fielder. I refused because the ball was not moving. Rohit overheard and came to us, asking why I wasn’t taking a slip. I couldn’t refuse him, so we added the slip. He [Rohit] stood at the slip, and on the next ball, he [Mitchell Owen] was out. Rohit later said, whenever you bowl to a new batter, take a slip, irrespective of whether I’m there or not.”
Watch a clip of the full video here:
The incident took place in the third ODI of India’s tour to Australia in August 2025. Batting first, Australia were off to a good start with the top order playing valuable cameos, and Matt Renshaw struck a fifty. Harshit Rana had dismissed Alex Carey (24 off 37) in the 34th over in his second spell. Mitchell Owen was the new man in. In the 36th over, Rana struck the hard length for an easy slip catch to Rohit Sharma. Mitchell Owen walked back with just one run from four balls.
Harshit Rana took two more wickets, including the final nail in the coffin, to all out Australia at 236. His figures read: 8.4-0-39-4. India chased down with ease, powered by a clinical century by Rohit Sharma. Though the visitors won the third ODI by nine wickets, Australia had already clinched the series with two wins.
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Notably, Harshit Rana bowled out Devon Conway in the first and second ODIs of the New Zealand series. In the third ODI, however, Rana took Conway’s wicket with a catch to Rohit Sharma at slip. Conway could add only five runs before Rana gave India’s first breakthrough in the second over in Indore. In a way, the duo of Rana and Rohit rolled back time for a quality wicket, giving India a good start in the series decider.
Across three ODIs, the Delhi-born is the highest wicket-taker for India with six scalps. His average stands at 33.50 with an economy rate of just below seven.
In the third match, New Zealand set a mammoth total of 337/8. While Virat Kohli scored yet another hundred, the hosts failed to recover from the terrible batting collapse. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana scored half-centuries, but the target was too much to be chased down, especially after Kohli’s wicket. New Zealand won the match by 41 runs, their second consecutive ODI win on Indian soil.
India, however, lost the series by 1-2. Next up, the two teams will play a five-match T20I series, starting on January 21 in Nagpur. It will be the last competitive match before they join 18 other teams for the T20 World Cup 2026, from February 7.
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