Harshit Rana might become India second Irfan Pathan: There is a fear about Harshit, who is showing amazing performance in batting as well as bowling, that his condition might become like that of Irfan Pathan.

New Delhi: When former fast bowler Irfan Pathan made his debut for Team India, he created a sensation in the very beginning. The way Irfan used to take the ball in and out with speed, the batsman would get dizzy seeing it. Within no time, Irfan established himself in the team. Irfan Pathan’s bowling had become the guarantee of victory for the team, but then coach Greg Chappell entered the Indian team. Under Chappell’s guidance, Irfan started his journey from being a fast bowler to becoming an all-rounder. Initially, Irfan Pathan and Team India got success due to their all-round game, but this did not last long.

In his journey from a pace bowler to an all-rounder, Irfan’s condition became such that there was neither swing nor speed left in his bowling. His batting was such that he became a burden for the team. The result was that Irfan Pathan was not only out of the team but his career also ended prematurely. Something similar is happening with Harshit Rana in Team India these days. Under the coaching of Gautam Gambhir, Harshit Rana is continuously getting a chance to play in Team India. He remains Gambhir’s first choice in all three formats – Test, ODI and T20, but the way he is being used, it seems that he is on the path of becoming Team India’s second Irfan Pathan.

Is Gautam Gambhir playing with Harshit’s career?

There is no doubt that Harshit Rana is a talented player. Whenever he got a chance, he proved himself, but Harshit Rana should not forget that he got entry in Team India as a fast bowler. In such a situation, his first responsibility is to help the team win the game by bowling. It is not that there are no pace bowling all-rounders in the world. The biggest example is Hardik Pandya and Nitish Kumar Reddy in Team India itself. He gets a place in Team India as a pace bowling all-rounder. In such a situation, his responsibility is to score runs at a fast pace in the middle order with a filler bowler in the team, but this does not apply to Harshit.

Gautam Gambhir is hell-bent on grooming Harshit as the number 8 batsman. Batting is fine, but what about his bowling, this is the biggest question. In the match against New Zealand, Harshit undoubtedly played a half-century innings by hitting four sixes and four fours, but if we look at his bowling, he spent 84 runs in taking 3 wickets. Comparing Harshit’s game in both batting and bowling, nothing seems very useful for Team India. Because on one hand, Harshit is taking wickets with the new ball, but as soon as it becomes old, he starts getting beaten badly. Whereas after the failure of batting in the top order, Harshit’s fast batting while chasing a big score can sometimes lead the team to victory, but this experiment is not always going to be effective. In such a situation, it is clear that this experiment of Gautam Gambhir can also become the cause of ruin for Harshit.