India pacer Harshit Rana has come under the scanner for being selected for the upcoming white-ball tour to Australia, starting October 19. The player was part of India's Asia Cup 2025 winning squad, but had a below-par performance in the two matches he got to play. Rana returned figures of 1 for 25 in three overs vs Oman and leaked 54 runs for one wicket in four overs against Sri Lanka in the continental tournament. He has thus far played 2 Tests, 5 ODIs and 3 T20Is, picking 4, 10 and 5 wickets, respectively.
The player is being criticized heavily for the fact that he made it to the India squad for Australia tour despite a series of poor performances. Former India opener Kris Srikkanth even termed Harshit Rana as the "only one permanent member" in the team.
Many feel that's Harshit's KKR connection with the current India head coach Gautam Gambhir that sees him get picked for all formats in the Indian team. Amid the chatter, former India batter Aakash Chopra has come out in support of him, saying that Harshit has potential.
"People are trolling this kid a lot. It's not his fault that he gets picked in all squads. Anyone who plays for India gets picked by the selectors. Captain and coach also give inputs but don't have the voting rights. If after that someone keeps getting picked, then it's not that person's fault. You are pointing your guns in the wrong direction," said Chopra on his YouTube channel.
"I feel he (Rana) has got the potential. He can bat, whenever and wherever he has bowled, it seems that he's got the potential.
"I do feel that his debut was delayed so KKR could retain him as an uncapped player. That's still fresh in my memory. He was part of so many squads but only made his debut after KKR retained him.".
Chopra requested the critics not to troll Harshit. "Let's stop trolling anyone who plays for India. He has the potential and promise. He has been decent so far, gave player-of-the-match performance as a concussion substitute, bowled well against Australia in Perth. I will say give him some time," he said.
India's ODI squad vs Australia: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.
India's T20I squad vs Australia: 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.