India’s Harshit Rana has recently come under a fair amount of flak after he was picked in the ODI squad for the upcoming Australia series. A member of the Asia Cup winning squad, Rana also retained his place in the T20I set up against Australia as well which has led to people accusing the player of finding his place in the team due to favouritism. Former India player Aakash Chopra, however, urged people to stop trolling the player.
“People are trolling the kid too much. He is in all the three formats’ team, that’s not his fault. Understand this, whoever plays for India, his selection is done by the selectors. 5 selectors sit and discuss, there’s also he captain’s inputs as well as inputs from the coach. If even after that, someone’s name is in the team, how is it his fault? You are pointing your guns in the wrong direction,” Chopra said on YouTube.
“According to me, he has potential. Let’s be honest, he has potential. He can also bat. Whenever he has bowled, it seemed that he has potential. I will, however, admit that his debut was so late that KKR could retain him in the uncapped Indian category. That thing is still fresh in my memory. He was there for 6 months with the Indian team, didn’t play a match. He was then retained as an uncapped Indian by KKR and he played for India in the very next day. Other than that, whoever is playing for India, let’s stop trolling. The guy has potential, promise. Whenever he has played, he did decently. he came as a concussion sub in a match and got the player of the match award. I will say give him some time,” he added.
On October 4, former India chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth did not mince words as he lambasted the team management for the inclusion of Rana in the ODI squad for the Australia tour.
“By making such selections constantly, they are confusing the players themselves. Even we aren’t sure everyday what the selection will be. Suddenly Yashasvi Jaiswal is there and then next minute he won’t be there. There is only one permanent member – Harshit Rana. Nobody knows why he is there in the team. By chopping and changing all the time, they’ll dent the confidence of the players,” Srikkanth had said.
“You don’t pick some players even if they do well and take others even if they don’t. Best is to be like Harshit Rana and be a constant yes-man to Gambhir to be selected. You should start building towards the 2027 World Cup. But I feel they’ve not. If you pick Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy among the probabilities, then you can wave goodbye to the trophy,” an unfiltered Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
