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Young pace-bowling all-rounder in making, Harshit Rana played a crucial hand with the bat in the run chase against New Zealand. Batting ahead of an injured Washington Sundar, Rana contributed with a 23-ball 29 cameo that took the pressure off KL Rahul. While his cameo was praised, Rana in a video posted by the BCCI.tv, revealed that he is afraid to call his father as he will get a scolding for not finishing the match. He also revealed that it was his father who pushed him to focus on his batting as it will boost his chances of making it into the Indian side.
"It was my dad who got me into batting from the start, because it was his belief that all-rounders tend to play for India earlier. I have a feeling that if I call him now, he will scold me a lot, because I got out with 20 runs still needed. So, I am scared to talk to him now, because he calls me after every game," Rana said.
Rana on getting Kiwi openers out
Rana leaked runs but got both openers about in the middle overs. The pacer revealed the thinking behind opting to bowl a slower delivery outside the off-stump to get rid of Henry Nicholls and then claim the wicket of Devon Conway.
"There was a plan to bowl a bit wide to him, but I had not planned to bowl a yorker so far wide. It felt good to get those two breakthroughs in two overs, the main plan was to bowl in one area," Rana said.
Vadodara labels Gill as ‘aggressive captain’
Earlier, in the post-match press conference, Rana had lauded Shubman Gill's 'aggressive' captaincy.
“For me, he is a free and aggressive captain. If he has to take a decision, he thinks beforehand that he has to do that thing and then he doesn't stress about it," Rana told the media in Vadodara.
"I personally like that thing, to be a free captain is to give freedom to players to do what they want to do on the field. That is one of the best qualities I like about him," he added.
India and New Zealand will take on each other in the second ODI of the series at Rajkot's Niranjan Shah Stadium on January 14. Meanwhile, India all-rounder Washington Sundar has been ruled out of the series due to rib injury. Sundar has been replaced by Ayush Badoni.
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