Harshit Rana has played just one List A game, where he bowled six overs and went wicketless, in his career so far but that didn’t stop the North Zone selectors from picking him in the squad for the upcoming Deodhar Trophy. The panel led by Chetan Sharma, former India cricketer and chairman of men’s senior selection committee, was highly impressed by what they saw from Rana in the Duleep Trophy and felt the youngster has the potential to become a match-winning all-rounder.
In the two Duleep Trophy fixtures for North Zone, Rana picked seven wickets and made contributions of 122*, 31 and 38 with the bat. Sharma watched the games in Bengaluru and Rana’s all-round abilities made an instant impact on the chairman of selection committee. While there are no guidelines to be followed for picking the Deodhar squad but selectors mostly focus on List A and T20 performances, and healthy weightage is also given to outings in the Indian Premier League. In Rana’s case, an “exception” of sorts was made as the 21-year-old hasn’t played much but his ability to bowl at brisk pace and then the batting lower down the order made him a unanimous choice.
“Chetan Sharma watched the Duleep Trophy game in Bengaluru and was very impressed with Harshit Rana. Yes, he didn’t play a lot of Vijay Hazare Trophy games last year but he is a boy with immense potential and can bowl at a brisk pace. The batting lower down the order is an added advantage and he attended a NCA camp for all-rounders too,” says a source close to developments.
Rana was recently picked in India A squad for Men’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup 50-overs tournament too and also attended a camp for all-rounders at the NCA for close to three weeks. The men who matter in the BCCI are keeping a close eye on the talented all-rounder from Delhi and some good outings can well help him take the next step.
“Just look at the way he batted in Duleep Trophy. Two 30+ scores after that hundred – proper attacking hundred – vs Northeast Zone in the first game. He has the potential to do what Hardik Pandya does for the Indian cricket team in white-ball formats. Rana’s game is on the similar lines and if he keeps working hard on his batting and bowling, he can become the next Hardik Pandya,” adds the source.
Yash Dhull snubbed
Just a week before, Dhull was named India A captain for the Emerging Cup in Sri Lanka but the former India U-19 captain failed to find a place in the Nitish Rana-led North Zone squad. Dhull scored 191 runs in six innings, including a fifty, in the Vijay Hazare Trophy last year and the selectors felt it wouldn’t have been unfair to pick someone with those numbers.
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“I don’t see a reason why Dhull should have been picked,” came the crisp response of the source close to the selection committee.
“There are others who have done well. And if Dhull is the captain of Emerging team, then it doesn’t mean the North Zone selectors are going to follow that line. Many were thinking that Dhull will be an automatic selection since he is leading India A in Emerging Cup. We can’t be unfair to other North Zone cricketers,” adds the source.
Even Rana, appointed skipper, didn’t have great numbers (122 runs in 5 innings) with the bat but his effective off-spin (8 wickets in 5 innings) and the captaincy experience with Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL strengthened his case for selection as player and captain. The left-hander has played for India in the limited-overs series vs Sri Lanka in the past but has been waiting for a chance since then.
Mandeep regains fitness, Mayank returns after long injury lay-off
Mandeep Singh, who was appointed captain of North Zone Duleep Trophy squad, missed the tournament due to injury but has regained fitness for the List A tournament. The experienced right-hander will add a lot of stability in the middle order.
Also making a return after a long injury lay-off is seamer Mayank Yadav. The 21-year-old has been making a lot of noise in the Delhi circuit for his pace and impressed in the Vijay Hazare Trophy last year with 10 wickets from five games. The quick was injured after Delhi’s opening Ranji Trophy game vs Maharashtra last year and hasn’t played any competitive cricket since then.
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“Mayank has recovered and is consistently bowling now. He did well in the last Vijay Hazare Trophy for Delhi and is a very quick bowler. If groomed properly, he can be a real handful in all the formats,” says the source.
The seamer is right now in the standbys but will make the main squad if India A reach the Emerging Cup final.
“Asterix means that these are the players who are playing the emerging trophy. If India reaches the final there may be a day’s delay in them joining the team and the stand by players would play the first game in that case. The first four stand-by players,” read an official statement.
North Zone squad: Nitish Rana (Captain), Abhishek Sharma*, Prabhsimran Singh, SG Rohilla, S Khajuria, Mandeep Singh, Himanshu Rana*, Vivrant Sharma, Nishant Sindhu*, Rishi Dhawan, Yudhvir Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Harshit Rana*, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank To install Markande.
Stand-by players: Mayank Dagar, Mayank Yadav, Arslan Khan, Shubham Arora, Yuvraj Singh, Manan Vohra, Aqib Nabi, Shivank Vashisht.