It was a memorable and unexpected T20I debut for Harshit Rana on Friday. The 23-year-old right-arm pacer was not part of India's playing XI during the fourth game against England in Pune, but an injury to Shivam Dube saw him being included. Dube suffered a blow on his helmet through a Jamie Overton delivery on the penultimate ball of India's innings. He was then replaced with Harshit as concussion substitute after the innings break. The change in squad worked in India's favour as Harshit returned figures of 3 for 33 in his quota of four overs. He picked the wickets of Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell and Jamie Overton.
While Harshit's celebrations over his wickets knew no bounds, similar was the case with India head coach Gautam Gambhir, who doesn't shy away from backing the pacer. Notably, Gambhir is well aware of Harshit's calibre as he was the mentored him during his stint at Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2024.
Different reactions of Gambhir, while sitting in the dugout, during Harshit's wickets are going viral on social media.
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India went on to win the game by 15 runs and clinched the series against England with a game to go.
Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube, a left-hand batsman, put on 87 for the sixth wicket to lift India from a precarious 79 for 5 to 181 for 9 after being invited to bat first in the fourth match in Pune.
Rana and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi then took three wickets each as India bowled out England for 166 to win by 15 runs for an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
"It is still a dream debut for me," said Rana. "When Dube came back, after two overs I was informed I will be the concussion substitute.
India extended their unbeaten T20I series record to 17 at home since 2019.
(With AFP Inputs)