Harshit Rana marks unique T20I debut despite being not part of India's playing XI in 4th T20I vs England, takes wicket on his 2nd ball as concussion substitute

Harshit Rana's T20I debut came in a unique fashion as he made his first appearance in the shortest format of the game midway through fourth match against England in Pune on January 31. Harshit Rana came as a concussion substitute, replacing Shivam Dube in middle of the fourth T20I against England. And what he did next made his T20I debut memorable. In his very second ball of his first over in T20I cricket, Rana made a stunning start by taking the wicket of Liam Livingstone.

Harshit Rana's historic T20I debut

Shivam Dube was struck on the helmet by a delivery from Jamie Overton while batting, which led to Harshit Rana entering the field as a concussion substitute.  After a mandatory concussion assessment, Dube was ruled out of the remainder of the match.

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List of players making debut as concussion substitute

Brian Mudzinganyama Test v Sri Lanka Harare 2020
Neil Rock ODI v West Indies - Kingston 2022
Khaya Zondo Test v Bangladesh Gqeberha 2022
Matt Parkinson Test v New Zealand Lord's 2022
Kamran Ghulam ODI v New Zealand Karachi 2023
Bahir Shah Test v Bangladesh Mirpur 2023
Harshit Rana T20I vs England Pune 2025

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Earlier, Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube's brilliant fifties powered India to a daunting total of 181/9, despite jittery start following Saqib Mahmood's fiery three-fer. While chasing India's 182-run target, England's innings began with a rapidfire start from Phil Salt and Ben Duckett. However, their momentum faltered midway through the innings as India's spinners, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, and Axar Patel, took crucial wickets.  Adding to England's woes, Harshit Rana, the concussion substitute, also made a big impact by claiming his maiden T20I wicket, further pushing England onto the backfoot. He didn't stop there as he went on to take two more in the form of Jacob Bethell and Jamie Overton. England kept on losing their wickets from there on and ended up losing the match by 15 runs. With this India clinched the series 3-1 with a match to spare.  

India's Playing XI:

Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube (Harshit Rana), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy

England's Playing XI:

Philip Salt(w), Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler(c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood