The 23-year-old India National Cricket Team pacer Harshit Rana can’t keep himself away from the limelight as he has now started facing fresh criticism despite performing decently with the bat in a T20I game against the Australia National Cricket Team.
Former India batter Sadagoppan Ramesh has lashed out at Harshit Rana after his performance in the second T20I of the five-match series against the Australia National Cricket Team at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Harshit Rana scored 35 runs against Australia
In the second T20I, India once again lost the toss and were invited to bat first on a spicy pitch. Josh Hazlewood ran through the Indian batting unit with his sensational spell, and the visitors were reduced to 49/5.
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It was expected that Shivam Dube would walk out to bat next, but that didn’t happen, and surprisingly, Harshit Rana came out to bat. Rana’s promotion over a batter like Dube, who has played several match-winning knocks for India, came as a massive surprise to everyone.
Rana tried his very best during his stay in the middle and built a decent partnership with Abhishek Sharma. However, he consumed too many balls, scoring just 35 runs off 33 deliveries.
While defending the low score, Harshit Rana looked poor with the new ball, and he leaked 27 runs in his first two overs. India eventually lost the match by 4 wickets.
But their secondary skill should not become the primary role – Sadagoppan Ramesh slams Harshit Rana, Gautam Gambhir
Speaking in a video shared on his Instagram after the match, Sadagoppan Ramesh used the cook and driver analogy to blast Gautam Gambhir for the promotion of Harshit Rana.
He also denied praising Harshit Rana for his batting and said that a player should first be judged on his primary skills.
“Someone who cooks well can’t be made a driver, and a good driver can’t become the cook. Likewise, the management should focus on each player’s strength and main role in the team and aim to get the best out of them in that role. If they do something extra, that’s well and good,” said Ramesh on his Instagram handle.
“But their secondary skill should not become the primary role, and I fear that’s happening in this Indian team. A bowler who can bat needs to deliver with the ball first, and likewise, a batter who can bowl must deliver with the bat first. The management needs to be clear on this. That’s where India are slipping right now,” he added.
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India needs to stop playing musical chairs with their batting order – Sadagoppan Ramesh
Sadagoppan Ramesh further said that India need to stop playing musical chairs in the batting order and give permanent positions to players.
“India needs to stop playing musical chairs with their batting order. They would have had a great chance of winning if they had scored 160 to 170. Didn’t Suryakumar Yadav play well at No. 3 in the last match? He was not out as well. Then why send Sanju Samson at No. 3?” said Ramesh.
“He went from opening to No. 5 and now from 5 to 3. Because of this, everyone is looking at each other in confusion on who might go into bat next. Tilak Varma won India the Asia Cup final at No. 4, and you moved him to No. 5.”
