Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra said that Harshit Rana might make his international debut in the third Test between India and New Zealand. He also added that the Delhi seamer wasn’t fully supported so far, as he was being picked in the squad but never added to the playing XI. However, the final Test of the three-match series will start in Mumbai on Friday, November 1.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ said, “Harshit Rana is in the Test team. It’s interesting. It’s a young first-class career but he is being invested in. Gautam Gambhir’s new management is investing in him. However, it seemed like there was outside support thus far, just like a coalition government, where you are with them but are still not there,” he said.
“You went to Zimbabwe, then Sri Lanka, and after that, you were a part of the squad in the home series, but you didn’t get a chance to play. However, you have been selected for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as well. If you see his first-class career, he has played 10 matches in total but he took five wickets in the last match and scored a fifty as well. So he can bowl and bat,” Chopra further added.
ALSO READ: Hardik Pandya shares happiness after winning back the love of fans
“It seems like the wait is over. He might get a chance to play here. There is a possibility that Bumrah might be rested as it seems like we have an extremely inexperienced attack for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and spin won’t be as effective. So they might want to manage Bumrah and maybe there is a slight niggle we don’t know about as he has played four consecutive Test matches. You do not want to risk him,” he again shared.
In the same video, Aakash Chopra also shared that Harshit Rana would have been retained by the KKR as an uncapped player before making his international debut as well.
ALSO READ: “Shubman’s captaincy is very good” – Ravi Bishnoi on Shubman Gill
“One thing is that he might get a chance to play. The second thing is that the match will start on November 1, which means the retentions would have happened on October 31. You can assume he would have been retained by KKR as an uncapped player. After reaching an agreement, the deal might be set between four to seven crores. If he had gone as a capped player, at least 11 crores would have gone from their kitty. So we all believe he would have been retained slightly cheap. Harshit Rana might be making his debut but KKR would also be getting happy,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
