Confirmado con Gaautam Gambahir, Rana Ang vs English crea un gran récord en ODI 1; Solo India …

It came as a bit of a surprise when Rohit Sharma named that India would go in with two frontline pacers but neither of them was going to be Arshdeep Singh. With Mohammed Siraj ignored for this series and for the ICC Champions Trophy, Arshdeep was touted to be the Indian cornerstone alongside Shami. But instead, the Rohit-Gautam Gambhir duo handed the debut to Harshit Rana. Rana, who is just in this series and not in the ICC Champions Trophy squad, had a rough start but ended his spell with a delightful 3/53.

IND vs ENG 1st ODI: Harshit Rana the ‘debut’ king?

Harshit Rana was taken to cleaners when Phil Salt launched a scathing attack on him. In the sixth over of the innings, Salt hit Rana for 26 runs, making it one of the worst overs in Indian ODI history. However, Rohit recalled Rana for the last over of the powerplay and that’s where the move changed the game. Rana dug in short and sent back Ben Duckett. To be fair, the wicket was all due to Yashasvi Jaiswal’s superb running catch.

Rana’s second wicket also came in the same over when he nicked one off Harry Brook’s bat down the leg. Then, Rana falunted his express pace as he rattled Liam Livingstone with a bouncer. On the next ball, the middle-order dasher tried a wild hoick only to see the ball get caught by KL Rahul. It was indeed a superb debut by Rana, who ran in, bowled hard lengths, and made it troublesome for the visitors.

Superb Test & peculiar T20I debut for Rana

Notably, Rana has been superb in all his debuts across formats. Remember his Test debut that came in the first Border Gavaskar Trophy Test in Perth, where he bowled Travis Head? In that game, he took 3/48 in the first innings. Then came his T20I debut, which was a classic. He wasn’t on the team sheet but when Shivam Dube was hit on his head, Rana was subbed in as a concussion sub. It was against England’s liking as Rana wasn’t a like-for-like replacement for Dube. But regardless, Rana made merry as he tormented England with a three-fer.

Following his ODI debut now, Rana has become the first-ever Indian to take three-wicket hauls across formats! This is actually some feat and an enthralling way to start a budding career.