He gave India their first breakthrough with a wicket in the 1st IND vs NZ ODI.
India handed ODI debut to Harshit Rana a year ago, and the right-arm pacer has delivered more often than not. In the ongoing IND vs NZ 1st ODI in Vadodara, he gave the first breakthrough with two back-to-back wickets of the New Zealand openers. Shortly before the start of the match, Sanjay Manjrekar explained how Gautam Gambhir’s decision has proven right with time.
Speaking on JioHotstar’s pre-match show, the former player described why Rana has become a crucial addition to the team.
“Harshit Rana is one of the finds of the Indian team as far as the bowling is concerned. He can bowl in all phases of the game. He adds to the wicket-taking ability that Indian seamers have been lacking in the middle overs. So, by his inclusion, the Indian bowling lineup seems quite complete.”
Extracting numbers, the 24-year-old has 20 wickets from 11 games in about a year. While his Test stats are not that great, with four scalps in two matches, Rana is proving to be a great asset in white-ball cricket.
Manjrekar also noted, “Against South Africa, we saw how he exploits the new ball really well against experienced batters, and when he returns for his second or third spells, he uses his T20 skillset to set up dismissals of batters who are looking to take bowlers on.”
The same pattern was noted today in the match against New Zealand. He gave away 21 runs in his first spell of four overs, including a dropped catch of Henry Nicholls at four. When he returned for his second spell in the 22nd over, he was hit by two consecutive boundaries by the opener. On the next ball, his bat edged, and the catch was completed by KL Rahul at the back. Nicholls had made 62 off 69.
On the last ball of the next over, Rana bowled out Devon Conway (56 off 67). Coming for his third spell in the 43rd over, Shreyas Iyer’s athleticism helped the hosts with the wicket of the skipper, Michael Bracewell.
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When Harshit Rana first came into play in the blue jersey, Gautam Gambhir was on the receiving end of endless criticism. Later, the player was also asked questions about his selection involving favouritism from the former KKR coach. Soon, the air was cleared of any bias based on the IPL franchise.
While Gambhir’s decision-making skills are constantly questioned and scrutinised, Manjrekar’s views on the pacer shed light on the importance of skills. From the surface, a lot of selection choices for the Indian team have been influenced by their performances in the Indian Premier League. While there’s always a difference in formats, the high-intensity mode and exposure of playing with international stars come into play.
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