India is a team that doesn’t take Test defeats lightly, especially at home. Though skipper Rohit Sharma said that a first Test defeat in 12 years on home soil is “allowed”, he will be relentlessly looking for answers in the dressing room in order to avoid a series whitewash against New Zealand at home which will put an even bigger dent to their World Test Championship (WTC) hopes.
After the defeat in the 2nd Test in Pune, India decided to make a surprising change and brought in pacer Harshit Rana to the squad for the third Test, scheduled to be played in Mumbai from November 1.
There are chances that Rana will make his debut, replacing pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who may be rested so that he retains full fitness for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series.
Rana came into the spotlight in the IPL 2024 season, taking 19 wickets for eventual champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) under the guidance of Gautam Gambhir, who was a mentor to the side during the tournament. It is safe to say that Gambhir knows Rana’s game very well.
After the last-minute inclusion of all-rounder Washington Sundar clicked and he went on to take 11 wickets in the second Test, India is looking to make a similar move by giving a chance to the pace-bowling all-rounder, Harshit Rana in the third Test.
Rohit and Gambhir are on the same page on adding depth in batting and the pitch at Wankhede stadium is expected to provide extra bounce can also turn out to be helpful for the Men in Blue if they add Rana to the playing 11.
After Rana’s recent brilliant display for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy where he picked up 7 wickets and scored 59 runs, India will be hoping hat he makes an instant impact to the team just like Sundar, who also got selected after his fantastic displays for Tamil Nadu.
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