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Harshit Rana and Gautam Gambhir
The Indian ODI and T20I squads for the short tour of Sri Lanka later this month were announced yesterday. Pacer Harshit Rana got his first-ever call-up to the ODI team, which will be captained by Rohit Sharma.
Harshit Rana was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders team that won the Indian Premier League 2024 title. The 22-year-old sat down with PTI and said the role that then mentor Gautam Gambhir played in his evolution.
Speaking to PTI, Harshit Rana said, “If my outlook towards the game has changed, a lot of it has got to do with Gauti bhaiyya's presence in the KKR dressing room and how he changed my mindset.”
Harshit Rana credits Gautam Gambhir behind his rise
Young Harshit Rana, who was part of the Zimbabwean tour, didn’t get to play a single game. The tall right-arm pacer was part of the IPL-winning KKR side, where he picked 19 wickets and helped his side win the title.
During his chat with PTI, the Delhi pacer went on to say, “If my outlook towards the game has changed, a lot of it has got to do with Gauti bhaiyya's presence in the KKR dressing room and how he changed my mindset.”
The youngster also said, “Gauti bhaiyya would always tell me 'Mere ko tere pe trust hai. Tu match jeetake aayega”. So far, Harshit Rana has played 14 List A games for Delhi and picked 22 wickets with a best of 4/17. He has picked four wickets on two occasions and has a bowling average of 23.45 and his economy rate is a decent 5.5 runs per over.
While recounting one of the biggest pieces of advice, the new Indian coach gave Rana, the pacer said, “If you ask about the pressure part it is Gautam Gambhir's advice. He would say, 'What's the worst thing that will happen? You will get hit and we can lose the match. But if you don't face your fears, how will you overcome them? There will always be a new day, a new match and things will fall in place. That's what you train for.”
Indian squad for ODI series vs Sri Lanka
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.