Former Indian fast bowler Varun Aaron lavished praise on Harshit Rana after India won the third ODI against Australia by nine wickets at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday in the third game of the series.
Rana bagged 4-39 in 8.4 overs he bowled and returned with his best-bowling figures in ODIs. The lanky pacer accounted for Alex Carey, Mitchell Owen, Cooper Connolly, and Josh Hazlewood.
Thus, he played a key role in bundling out Australia at 236. Aaron noted that Rana set the same for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli after delivering with the ball. While Rohit scored a fine knock of 121 runs, Kohli added 74 runs to silence their critics in style.
“First of all, his performance has gone completely under the radar because everybody wanted a RoKo show. They got a Roko show, but the man who set it up for Rohit and Kohli was actually Harshit Rana. On a wicket that was not helpful for the bowlers, he bowled a very, very good spell,” Varun Aaron said on Star Sports.
Aaron said Harshit Rana showed a lot of variety in his bowling in the third game of the series.
“We saw a lot of nuance from Harshit. He got the ball to go out. He bowled really good slower balls, and then backed it up with very good line and length. Again, somebody who is learning. The team management has really backed him, and he is coming good,” Aaron observed.
On the other hand, former Indian wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel said Rana is going to be a crucial player for India moving forward as he can also deliver while batting at number eight.
“Going forward, Harshit Rana will become an extremely crucial player for you. He is a bowler in any case, but he also gives you a batting option at No. 8, which we saw in the last match. We saw rhythm today (Saturday). He was bowling with the old ball and getting the batter out at slip. He was consistently bowling at a speed of 140 kph,” he said.
“You need to show different skills. He dismissed a batter with a yorker as well. In the last one or two years, Harshit used to play one match and then sit out, but the good thing Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill did was to give him a chance to play three consecutive matches, and you could see the confidence and rhythm in the third match,” Parthiv observed.
Rana is part of the T20I series against Australia, which will commence on Wednesday.
