Vadodara, Jan 12 After India's four-wicket victory in the opening ODI against New Zealand, fast bowler Harshit Rana revealed that the team management wants to "groom him" as an all-rounder and asked him to work on improving his skills as a batter to bat at the No. 8 position.
Chasing 301, India lost opener Rohit Sharma early. Skipper Shubman Gill (56) and Virat Kohli (93) then forged a sublime match-winning stand of 118 runs for the second wicket. Shreyas Iyer (49), Harshit Rana (29) and KL Rahul (29 not out) helped India over the line.
Notably, Rana came ahead of all-rounder Washington Sunder to bat at No. 7 and contributed a vital 29 off 23 in the chase.
"The team management wants to groom me as an all-rounder and it is my task to keep working on it. I am working on it in the nets as well, and it was a matter of confidence, which KL (Rahul) Bhai helped me with when I went in (to bat). I kept my focus on it and made the runs," Rana said in a post-match presser.
My team wants me to bat at No. 8 as an all-rounder, and whatever time I can give to it in the nets, I focus on that. I believe I can score 30-40 runs for the team lower down the order whenever needed and that’s what the team management believes that I can do as well," he added.
After being asked to bat, New Zealand got off to a strong start as openers Devon Conway (56) and Henry Nicholls (62) forged a brilliant stand of 117 runs. Daryl Mitchell anchored the innings, shifting between caution and aggression as he smashed an aggressive 84. Mohammed Siraj led the Indian attack, finishing with figures of 8-0-40-2, while Prasidh Krishna and Rana also chipped in with two wickets each.
When asked about the Indian bowlers' struggles to take wickets early on with the new ball, particularly in the absence of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, Rana responded, "I don’t know what cricket you are watching. Even today, although we did not secure the early wickets, Siraj bhai bowled exceptionally well. We did not give away a lot of runs either with the new ball."
“But these things happen; if you do not get wickets early on, then you will get them later, which is what we did. There are different phases in ODI cricket. I felt that the pitch was slow; there wasn’t much bounce either," he added.
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