Fast bowler all-rounder Harshit Rana has been added to India’s Test squad for the five-match series in England. He was already with the India ‘A’ team playing practice matches against England Lions and the Test team.
Reports say the team management brought Rana in as Jasprit Bumrah might miss some Tests and they wanted an extra fast bowler.
India already has Bumrah, Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh as their fast bowlers and with Rana added to the mix, the pace attack gets a boost. The plan is to go into the first Test with five specialist bowlers – four fast bowlers and one spinner. This means no all-rounder will make the playing XI.
With Rana in, the Indian squad now has 19 players. He played one match against England Lions in Canterbury, took 1 wicket for 99 runs and scored 16 runs. At 23, he made his Test debut in Australia where he took 4 wickets, his best being 3/48 in Perth. Although he was left out of the England series initially, the selectors have given him another chance.
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In 13 first-class matches, Rana has 48 wickets at 27.79 and can bat too at 32.80 with one century and two fifties. Led by Shubman Gill, India is looking to win its first Test series in England since 2007. The series starts on June 20 and will be the first in the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle.
