Harshit Rana may be the bowling all-rounder that India is searching for at No. 8 if he continues to score 20 to 25 runs with the bat, according to captain Shubman Gill, following the Delhi pacer’s career-high four wickets in the third ODI against Australia on Saturday in Sydney.
Despite being sidelined due to a quadriceps injury, Nitish Kumar Reddy’s bowling lacks the necessary bite in comparison to Hardik Pandya, and his participation as a batting all-rounder at No. 8 had shown to be damaging in the first two ODIs.
The Indian skipper is more interested in a bowling all-rounder than a batter who can easily roll his arm over after Rana smashed 24 in the second game in Adelaide.
“I think the No. 8 position for us, if a batsman can make 20-25 runs there, which we have confidence that Harshit can do it, then it becomes a very important position,” Gill said at the post-match conference.
Tall fast bowlers who can bowl such effort balls and strike the deck hard are rare to come by. Rana is unique in that regard, according to his skipper.
“There are very few fast bowlers who are tall, who can bowl 140-plus. So if we are looking at South Africa, on such wickets, such bowlers become very important,” Gill explained.
“Because in the middle overs we saw that the ball doesn’t move much off the wicket. So if you have a good height and pace, you can create chances. And I think that’s what happened.”
Gill acknowledged that Rana took the wickets after the spinners applied pressure.
“Australia got a very good start but the way our spinners bowled first, created pressure, and then Harshit bowled powerfully (effort balls) and I think he got a good reward for that.”
Gill seldom ends a series in ODIs without scoring a half-century, but the captain stated that his form doesn’t worry him too much.
“In the first match, I got out down-the-leg side. So, I’m not thinking too much about my batting. Sometimes, it happens. You obviously want to perform for the team in every match, but I’m not too worried about my performance,” the skipper said.
