Harshit Rana battles critics, trolls and picks more wickets than Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in ODIs | Cricket News
In recent times, no other Indian cricketer has faced criticism like Harshit Rana.Harshit has been endlessly criticized on social media for his promotion to the Indian team in all formats.“The best thing is to be like Harshit Rana and constantly be a yes-man to Gambhir to get selected. No one knows why he is there in the team. You don’t pick someone no matter how well they do and you don’t take others even if they don’t,” an unfiltered Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
It took Gautam Gambhir to address the issue at the post-match press conference after India’s Test series victory in New Delhi.“Targeting someone individually is not fair. You can target someone for their performance, and for that there are people… there are selectors,” he said.“But when you say such things to a 23-year-old, and social media amplifies it even more, imagine his state of mind when he hears all this. Tomorrow, even your kid could end up playing for the country. The least we can do is realize that he is not 33, he is only 23. You can criticize me, I can handle it. But a 23-year-old is a boy of 23. 23 years, and it’s unacceptable,” added the Indian head coach.Rana justified head coach Gautam Gambhir’s faith in him with a four-wicket haul that restricted mighty Australia to 236. The Delhi pacer returned figures of 4 for 39.
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Captain Shubman Gill also praised the pacer’s performance at the Sydney Cricket Ground.“I think No. 8 position for us, if a batsman can make 20-25 runs there, which we are confident Harshit can do, then it becomes a very important position,” Gill said in the post-match conference.“There are very few fast bowlers who are tall, capable of bowling over 140. So, if we look at South Africa, on such wickets, these bowlers become very important,” explained Gill.“Because in the middle overs, we saw that the ball doesn’t move much off the wicket. So if you have good height and good pace, you can create chances. And I think that’s what happened.”Rana finished the three-match series with six wickets and was the leading wicket-taker, surpassing Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.
