Former India cricketer Varun Aaron believes that despite Harshit Rana's fabulous performance with the ball, he didn't get enough credit for the victory over Australia because of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Though Harshit recorded figures of 4/39 and played a key role in bundling out the Aussies for 236 runs, the spotlight shifted completely towards Rohit and Virat during the chase. They formed a mammoth partnership of 168 runs, carrying the visitors to a dominant 9-wicket victory. While Rohit scored a masterful 121, Virat played a gritty inning of 74, ensuring that the Men in Blue avoided a series whitewash.
Though Harshit did receive a lot of praise for his performance, Aaron feels that his contributions went completely under the radar. He pointed out that the 23-year-old set up the match for India perfectly nd bowled a stellar spell in conditions favouring the bowlers.
"First of all, his performance has gone completely under the radar because everybody wanted a RoKo show. They got a Roko show, but the man who set it up for Rohit and Kohli was actually Harshit Rana. On a wicket that was not helpful for the bowlers, he bowled a very, very good spell," Aaron said on Star Sports show 'Follow The Blues'.
"We saw a lot of nuance from Harshit. He got the ball to go out. He bowled really good slower balls, and then backed it up with very good line and length. Again, somebody who is learning. The team management has really backed him, and he is coming good," he added.
Harshit's fitting reply to the doubters
Though there was a lot of criticism over his selection for the series, Harshit gave a fine response to his doubters with his performance and finished with six wickets from three matches. He has so far only participated in a total of eight ODIs for the national team, but his display against Australia can see him be a part of the playing XI for the three-match home series against South Africa that will commence from November 30.
Harshit present in the squad for AUS T20Is
Meanwhile, Harshit will now be shifting his focus to the five-match T20I series against Australia that will begin from October 29. After not receiving much game-time in the Asia Cup, it remains to be seen how many matches will the pacer play in the upcoming assignment.
India’s squad for Australia T20Is: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.