Harshit Rana silences critics with career-best figures in ODIs; Analysing his impact vs Aus

Harshit Rana during 3rd ODI - (Source : AFP)

On Saturday, October 25, India locked horns against Australia in the dead rubber ODI at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The Men in Blue, who have already lost the series, made a couple of changes to the playing XI.

Arshdeep Singh and Nitish Kumar Reddy made way for Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav. The fans were upset to see Singh sit out on the bench and quickly took to social media platforms to slam Gautam Gambhir for favouritism and include Harshit Rana in the team, who had just two wickets in two ODIs in this series. In contrast, the left-arm seamer had three wickets in two matches. 

The fans went after Harshit Rana and also questioned on what basis the KKR star made his way ahead of Arshdeep. However, the critics quickly went silent as Rana produced his best bowling spell in ODIs and picked up a four-wicket haul. 

Meanwhile, this article will analyse Rana's performance and also look at how he has had a massive impact in this three-match ODI series.

Rana is a great prospect for the No. 8 role

For a long time, India have struggled to have a bowler who can bat and add crucial runs at the tail. However, Harshit has proved his prowess as a batter as well and added valuable 25 runs in the 2nd ODI when everyone failed with the bat.

Rana scored three boundaries off Adam Zampa and showed a glimpse of what he can do and why India should trust him at No. 8. 

A Knack to pick up crucial wickets

Talking about Rana's contribution, then has has played a valuable part in every ODI. Besides the opening game, where there was very little to do for him, the right-arm seamer picked up two wickets in the second ODI and registered the figures of 2/59. Although he was expensive, he took the crucial wickets of Travis Head and Matthew Short.

The 2nd ODI was a testament that Rana can pick up wickets and also add runs with the bat.

Harshit followed it up with his career-best performance of 4/39, which is the fifth-best bowling figures by an Indian pacer in Australia. Interestingly, after 8 ODIs, Harshit Rana has the third most wickets by an Indian seamer with 16 wickets in 8 matches. 

Only Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, and Ajit Agarkar have better figures than Rana. Let's look at Harshit's performance in ODIs.

Harshit's overall stats in ODIs

Let's also compare Harshit Rana's figures against his current teammates after eight innings.

Harshit Rana's stats vs Siraj, Arshdeep, and Prasidh Krishna

Thus, if we look at the figures, then it is clear that Harshit has been doing well for India in ODIs and shouldn't be judged in this format based on his underwhelming performance in other formats. Further, he boasts better stats and records than his peers except Prasidh Krishna.

Conclusion

The conclusion here is for everyone to not pass judgement early on. If we look at Mohammed Siraj, then he has inferior figures compared to Harshit after his first eight ODI innings. However, constant backing and trust resulted in the bowler that he is today. Similarly, for Harshit, the right-arm seamer is a great prospect and should be backed enough for him to produce such four-wicket haul performances.

There will be a few games in between where the right-arm seamer might go wicketless or go for runs, but he continues to be a massive impact in the team whether with ball or crucial runs with the bat.

---

ALSO READ

India doomed by toss curse: When was the last time Men In Blue won a coin-flip contest in ODIs?

---