Harshit Rana credits Bumrah, Morkel for success | Cricket News
DUBAI: Pulling out a rabbit from their hat in their opening match against Bangladesh here on Thursday, India played Harshit Rana over left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh, who holds a fair share of experience and has delivered the goods for India in previous ICC events.
Under pressure to justify the team management’s backing even as fans on social media went berserk criticising the decision, Rana came out with flying colours, taking three for 31 in 7.4 overs to emerge as the perfect back up for his senior pace bowling colleague Mohammed Shami. Given the new ball, Rana struck with his fourth delivery of the match, sending Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto packing for a two-ball duck.
Talking to reporters in the mixed zone after India’s six-wicket win, Rana talked about what he had imbibed from world’s premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah and India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel during India’s recent tour of Australia.
“I have benefitted a lot working with Jassi bhai. He has a lot of experience. He always guided me on how to bowl in which format. We used to talk about Test matches in Australia and also about different formats. I learnt a lot from that. One key thing I have picked up from him is consistency,” the young pacer said. “He has worked extensively on improving my line and length,” Harshit added.
The Delhi and Kolkata Knight Riders pacer earned his Test cap in the first Test of the prestigious Border Gavaskar series in Perth in December, before making his T20I and ODI debuts in the recently concluded white ball series against England. Interestingly, he is the first Indian bowler to take three wickets on debut in each of the three formats.
The 23-year-old is now set to have his first taste of an India versus Pakistan match on Sunday, and he looked eager to carry the momentum into the big match.
“When you play for India, there is always pressure. We will take it as a normal game. I will take today’s momentum forward. There’s always a lot of hype around an India-Pakistan game, but we are treating it like any other match,” he said.
