India’s national cricket team’s 23-year-old fast bowler Harshit Rana cannot keep himself away from the headlines as despite his good performance with the bat in the T20 match against Australia’s national cricket team, he is now facing fresh criticism.
Former India batsman Sadagoppan Ramesh has hit out at Harshit Rana after his performance in the second T20I of the five-match series against the Australia National Cricket Team at the 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 troubled the Indian batting unit with his sensational spell as the visitors were reduced to 49/5.
It was expected that Shivam Dubey would come to bat next, but it did not happen and surprisingly Harshit Rana came to bat. Rana’s promotion over a batsman like Dubey, who had played many match-winning innings for India, was a big surprise for everyone.
Rana tried his best while playing in the middle order and formed a good partnership with Abhishek Sharma. However, he conceded too many balls and scored only 35 runs off 33 balls.
While defending a low score, Harshit Rana looked poor with the new ball and conceded 27 runs in his first two overs. Ultimately India lost this match by 4 wickets.
But their secondary skills should not become the primary role – Sadagoppan Ramesh criticizes Harshit Rana, Gautam Gambhir
Speaking in a video shared on his Instagram after the match, Sadagoppan Ramesh used the analogy of a cook and a driver to attack Gautam Gambhir for his promotion of Harshit Rana.
He also refused to praise Harshit Rana’s batting and said that any player should be judged first on the basis of his primary skills.
“Someone who cooks well can’t be made a driver and a good driver can’t be a cook. Similarly, the management should focus on each player’s strengths and key 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,” Ramesh said on his Instagram handle.
“But their secondary skills should not become the primary role, and I fear that is happening in this Indian team. A bowler who can bat has to perform well with the ball first, and similarly, a batsman who can bowl has to perform well with the bat first. The management needs to be clear on this. This is where India are slipping right now,” he said.
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India need to stop playing musical chairs with its batting order – Sadagoppan Ramesh
Sadagoppan Ramesh further said that India needs to stop the game of musical chairs in the batting order and give permanent places to the players.
“India need to stop playing musical chairs with their batting order. If they had scored 160 to 170 runs, they would have had a very good chance of winning. Didn’t Suryakumar Yadav play well at No. 3 in the last match? He also did not get out. Then why was Sanju Samson sent at No. 3?” Ramesh said.
“He moved from opening to No. 5 and now from 5 to No. 3. Because of this, everyone is looking at each other in confusion as to who will bat next. Tilak Verma made India win the Asia Cup final at No. 4 and you moved him to No. 5.”