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India’s pace-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s is not a part of the ODI series against New Zealand as his workload is being managed ahead of T20 World Cup 2026. In Bumrah’s absence, Mohammed Siraj made his ODI comeback. In the series opener against New Zealand, no wicket fell till the 22th over as Kiwi openers negotiated well against the new-ball bowlers. After India’s four-wicket win with an over to spare, young pace-bowling all-rounder Harshit Rana was asked about lack of wickets with the new ball in Bumrah’s absence. The youngster wasn't pleased with the way the questioned was framed and pointed out that India got wickets in the middle overs phase.
“We can see that, in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. We can see a problem in Indian bowling. With the new ball, the wickets aren’t coming easily. So, what is the reason for that?" a journalist asked.
“I don’t know which cricket you have seen. If you look at it today, if he has not got any wickets, Siraj has bowled very well. We have not even given away any runs with the new ball," replied the 24-year-old at the post-match press conference.
“And it isn’t like that. It’s like, if you don’t get wickets with the new ball, you will take them out in the middle. This is the ODI phase," Rana added.
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Rana broke the opening partnership with the wicket of Henry Nicholls who scored 62 runs from 59 balls. Then, he got the wicket of Devon Conway as well. Conway was knocked over for a score of 56 from 67 deliveries. He conceded 65 runs from his quota of 10 overs.
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In the run chase, he walked out to bat at no.7, ahead of an injured Washington Sundar. He took the pressure off KL Rahul by contributing with a 23-ball 29 featuring two fours and a six.
Harshit Rana eyes the no.8 spot
Rana revealed that the team management wants him to contribute with the bat down the order. He has been batting in the nets to play that role in the ODI World Cup 2027.
“The team management wants to groom me as an all-rounder, and my job is to keep working on that. I am working on it, even in the nets. It was mainly about confidence. When I went in to bat in the match, the confidence my teammates gave me helped a lot. I focused on that and was able to score runs,” he said.
“As for batting, the team wants me to bat at number eight as an all-rounder. So in the nets, as much as possible, I keep focusing on my batting.”
From five innings in ODIs with the bat, he has scored 70 runs at an average of 23.33 and strike rate of 127.27.
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