India suffered their worst batting collapse in T20Is since 2008. The visitors were bundled out for 76, their second-lowest T20I score. While the batting was below par, the changes in batting order has led to scrutiny as well. Especially, the call to send Harshit Rana to bat in powerplay overs ahead of Shivam Dube to maintain the left-right combination. Former India wicketkeeper-batter and current Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) mentor and batting coach, Dinesh Karthik, fumed at the team management over the decision. Karthik wondered whether Rana has even batted in domestic cricket in powerplay overs that he has been trusted to bat at no.7 instead of Dube.
"Harshit Rana coming to bat before Shivam Dube, are you kidding me? I don't even think Harshit Rana has ever batted in the powerplay, even in domestic cricket," Karthik said on commentary.
"You can get the left-right combination working in T20 cricket, but only up to a point. Not Harshit Rana ahead of Shivam Dube," he added.
Changes in batting order and a collapse to forget
India lost half their side for 52 runs in five overs. Dube was expected to join Tilak Varma in the middle but Rana walked out to bat at no.7. The move backfired as both Varma and Rana struggled to rotate strike, let alone find boundaries. Rana's only boundary came off leg-spinner Adil Rashid. Varma got out stumped after scoring three runs from 11 balls.
Batting at no.8, Dube couldn’t do much and lost his wicket to Josh Tongue. Rana saw Arshdeep Singh depart before he got caught at backward point by Tom Banton off Tongue's bowling in the 11th over. India were bowled out for 76 in 11.4 overs, suffering a 125-run defeat, their biggest loss in T20Is in terms of runs.
Earlier, Axar Patel was sent in to bat at no.5 instead of Varma. Patel hit a four and a six before he got out caught behind to Jofra Archer.
The Rana experiment in numbers
24-year-old Rana's only notable knock came against Ireland where he contributed with a 10-ball 21. He batted ahead of Patel in the first T20I. He got stumped for a two-ball duck. In the second T20I, he batted at no.8 and hit a six before getting out to Archer off the last ball of the innings. On the UK tour, Rana has managed to score 44 runs from five innings.