Harshit Rana alongside head of India’s selection committee Ajit Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir. (BCCI on X)
With shouts of India level ka bowler hai bhai from Delhi’s slip cordon, Harshit Rana rocked Assam’s top order and picked up four wickets on a greenish Kotla surface on Saturday. The Delhi speedster, who has earned his maiden Test call for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, justified his selection with a fiery opening spell that read: 5-3-5-2.
Rana, who was playing competitive cricket after a gap of one-and-half months, got the extra zip from the surface, made the most of the new ball and troubled Assam’s top-order in the morning session. He could have taken more wickets as he consistently beat the outside edge in his first spell. It took him fifteen balls to get his first wicket. He found the outside edge of Assam opener Subham Mandal, with Yash Dhull taking a sharp catch at first slip. Two balls later, Rana bagged his second wicket as Abhishek Thakuri, another left-hander, departed without scoring after he was caught at the slip cordon.
Rishav Das (33) and Assam captain Denish Das (18) put on a 49-run stand for the third wicket. Delhi skipper brought Rana back just before lunch and the pacer troubled both the batters with his short-pitch ploy. The plan worked as Rishav was strangled down the leg side after he failed to keep his pull shot down.
However, once the ball lost its shine and the pitch became better for the batting, Rana faced his first resistance. In his third spell, he was hammered for two sixes in one over by Sumit Ghadigaonkar, who remained unbeaten on 120 as Assam ended Day 1 on 264 for 6. Rana picked up his fourth wicket in his fourth spell, where he bowled with the same accuracy as in his opening spell and got the wicket of Swarupam Purkayastha, who nicked one to Himmat Singh at the first slip.
The 22-year-old was also making a return to the Delhi side after missing the 2023-24 season due to a hamstring injury. Rana’s stocks skyrocketed, following his IPL exploits with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), where he picked up 19 wickets. He impressed Gautam Gambhir and Abhishek Nayar, who have now moved from the KKR dressing room to India’s. Rana was picked for the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh but didn’t get the chance to play and was among the reserves, who joined India’s Test team ahead of the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru.
Four-pronged pace attack
Delhi, who had gone with only two front line pacers Navdeep Saini and Himanshu Chauhan against Tamil Nadu overcompensated against Assam with a four-pronged pace attack spearheaded by Harshit Rana and Himanshu Chauhan. Left-arm pacer Siddhant Sharma, who impressed in his two outings last season made a comeback and 24-year-old Money Grewal was handed a debut. The all-pace attack cost Delhi massively as they only managed to bowl 76 overs on the opening day with their left-arm spinner Sumit Mathur bowling 20 overs.
Siddhant bowled beautifully in tandem with Rana while Himanshu Chauhan, Delhi’s lone shining knight in the last season, struggled with his length. The debutant Grewal was unlucky as he could have got a couple of more wickets had the slip cordon been more proactive. Two catches were dropped, one each by Yash Dhull and Sanat Sangwan off Grewal’s bowling.
Brief Scores
Assam: 264 for 6 in 76 overs (Sumit Ghadigaonkar 120 not out, Sibsankar Roy 59; Harshit Rana 4/62)
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