‘Harshit Rana justified his selection’: Ex-India star hails Gautam Gambhir’s T20I masterstroke
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Though Harshit Rana has played a significant hand for India at the MCG, he has not been credited much for his innings, before Varun Aaron lauded him and said that he justified his selection in the XI as well as the promotion in the batting order.
When India struggled with the bat at the MCG, Harshit Rana was promoted up the order and sent ahead of Shivam Dube, the all-rounder. Though many criticized the call early, Harshit Rana amassed 35 runs in the match.
However, he has not received much praise after the innings, which contributed significantly to India's batting innings. He has rather been said to have wasted deliveries and limited gametime for the set batter Abhishek Sharma.
"Very important innings. It almost justified his selection and him batting at No. 8 (No. 7)" - Varun Aaron
During a recent interaction with Star Sports, Varun Aaron shared his thoughts on Harshit Rana's knock. To him, the innings was very crucial from the team's point of view. He also shared that the knock justified his selection as well as promotion to the Indian XI.
"Very important innings. It almost justified his selection and him batting at No. 8 (No. 7). Gautam Gambhir and the coaching staff, obviously, have seen enough of him in the nets and in the practice matches to believe in his batting. I think he has shown glimpses of somebody who could be made into a decent all-rounder," he responded.
The former RCB pacer also pointed out that the bowling all-rounder saved India twice from such trouble, previously during the second ODI against Australia.
"Even in the one-day series, in the second game in Adelaide, when India needed runs, he got 24 there. Today (Friday), he got 30-odd in difficult conditions. The ball was seaming around there, the ball was seaming around today. India was in a spot in Adelaide. India were in a spot today," Aaron elaborated.
Aaron blames Shivam Dube for India's flop show
While several players, as well as fans, were unhappy with the Indian team management for not having sent in Dube, who played a quality innings in the Asia Cup final. Varun Aaron had said that Shivam Dube was to be blamed for India's not being able to post a bigger score.
"Shivam Dube should have continued the good work he had done. If Shivam Dube hadn't gotten out for just four runs and had taken it deep, then India could have had a much better score," he observed.
Shivam Dube was dismissed off just 4 runs of two balls; while one went to the boundary of his outside edge, the other was caught by Inglis, ending Dube's short stay on the crease.
Former Indian player hails Harshit Rana
After Varun Aaron, another former Indian cricketer, Robin Uthappa, further praised Harshit Rana's knock and proved that he can evolve to be a bowler who can bat in the long run for the Indian team.
"It was an extremely important knock not only for India but also for Harshit himself because questions are being raised about his batting. He showed that he can become a bowler who can bat," he said.
"He started moving around a lot in the crease in the end. So his head wasn't still enough. So he wasn't getting very good connections. However, till then, he had been batting extremely well. He stitched a good partnership with Abhishek as well," Uthappa stated.
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