Vinay Kumar
VADODARA: Like his predecessors, Harshit Rana is a typically feisty Delhi cricketer, who won’t take an unnecessary comment or criticism lying down.On Sunday night, after playing a massive role in India’s thrilling four-wicket win over New Zealand in the first ODI at the BCA Stadium here, Rana fired back at a journalist who asked about the team’s inability to scalp wickets with the new ball in ODIs, especially in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. The query stemmed from the fact that New Zealand’s openers, Devon Conway and Henry Nicholls, put on 117 in 130 balls. However, it was Rana who gave India the first breakthrough and dismissed both the Kiwi openers when the visitors were going strong.
“We can see that, in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. We can see a problem in Indian bowling. With the new ball, the wickets aren’t coming easily. So, what is the reason for that?” a journalist questioned in the post-match press conference.“I don’t know which cricket you’ve seen. If you look at it today, if he hasn’t got any wickets, Siraj bhai bowled very well. We haven’t even given away any runs with the new ball. We did not give away a lot of runs either with the new ball. And it’s not like that. It’s like, if you don’t get wickets with the new ball, you’ll take them out in the middle,” Rana shot back.“But these things happen, if you do not get wickets early on then you will get them later, which is what we did. There are different phases in ODI cricket. I felt that the pitch was slow, there wasn’t much bounce either,” he added.Rana faced brickbats last year for being chosen in all three formats of the game. However, the 24-year-old bowling all-rounder is slowly but surely sealing a spot for himself purely on merit basis and has got his 206 off to a dream start. On Sunday, Rana once again stepped up, taking two for 65 in 10 overs and then, batting ahead of an injured Washington Sundar, who suffered from a side strain that ruled him out of the ODI series against the Kiwis, scored a crucial 29 off 23 balls to help the hosts scrape through in a tight contest. In fact, Rana came close to winning the Player of the Match award, but in the end, the prize went to superstar Virat Kohli, who slammed a scintillating 93 to set up India’s successful 301-run chase.With Gambhir showing preference for all-rounders, Rana, who was played ahead of prolific left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh in the first ODI, revealed that the team management has asked him to work on improving his batting skills. “The team management wants to groom me as an all-rounder and it is my task to keep working on it. I am working on it in the nets as well, and it was a matter of confidence which KL (Rahul) bhai helped me with when I went in (to bat). I kept my focus on it and made the runs,” Rana told reporters.Clearly, Rana is gaining an edge over the other bowlers because of his ability to chop in with useful scores down the order at No 8. Almost all the teams in international cricket have a decent batsman at No 8 these days, so India head coach Gautam Gambhir‘s strategy in this regard makes sense, especially as most of India’s specialist bowlers can hardly bat.“My team wants me to bat at No 8 as an all-rounder and whatever time I can give to it in the nets, I focus on that. I believe I can score 30-40 runs for the team lower down the order whenever needed and that’s what the team management believes that I can do as well,” Rana said.Rana put on 37 runs for the sixth wicket with KL Rahul put India’s chase back on track after they lost Virat Kohli (93), Jadeja (4) and Shreyas Iyer (49) in quick succession.“Till Virat bhai was there it felt that the match would end early, maybe with 5-6 overs to spare but a game of cricket can change anytime and you cannot predict it,” Rana said.
