Nagpur, Feb 6 (IANS) It was baptism by fire for India’s pace-bowling all-rounder Harshit Rana as he was hammered for 26 runs in an over by England opener Phil Salt in the first ODI of the three-match series at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium here on Thursday.
But the young pacer on his debut showed great courage to recover from that hammering and came back strongly to bag the first two wickets of his ODI career to help India recover in the match.
After Mohammed Shami had started the proceedings with a maiden over, Rana bowled a few good deliveries but the English opener took him on aggressively, welcoming the newcomer with a boundary on the fourth ball of his first over and then walloped him again on the last ball of the over.
Rana, who was given his first cap by Shami, hurried Salt with his pace in the fourth over but the 28-year-old English opener waded into the Indian right-arm fast-medium bowler, top-edging for a six over the wicketkeeper’s head a-length ball outside off. The next delivery was driven between mid-off and extra-cover boundary. On the next ball, Salt picked the slower one early and sent it sailing over the deep backward square-leg boundary with a fine sweep.
On the fourth ball of the over by his Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) teammate, Salt came forward for a front-foot pull over midwicket for his second four of the over. A dot ball later, Salt pulled a short delivery by Rana to send it sailing over the square leg boundary into the stands. The 6,4,6,4,6 blitz by Salt helped England race to fifty runs in 36 balls.
The 23-year-old Rana from Delhi maintained his cool and came back strongly to claim his first wicket when he had Ben Duckett out thanks to a superb catch by fellow debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal. After Salt was run out thanks to a superb piece of fielding by Shreyas Iyer, Rana gave India another breakthrough as the hosts fought their way back into the match.
Despite the hammering, Rana continued to ball hard length and in the 10th over put a bit more shoulder into it as the ball came on fast and rising, Duckett went for the pull but miscued it to midwicket where Jaiswal sprinted back and took a terrific diving catch to give Rana his maiden ODI wicket.
A few deliveries later, Rana claimed his second wicket when he sent back Harry Brook for a duck, with a well-directed bouncer angled into the batter, who gloved it to wicketkeeper K.L Rahul while trying to fend it.
Rana’s first spell of five overs got him 2-43 runs, including a maiden over. With this, the young pacer did a world of good to his chances and put up a claim for a place in the final squad for the Champions Trophy.
It was a great comeback by the young pacer who was in the eye of the storm after he was called in as a concussion substitute for Shivam Dube in the fourth T20I against England in Pune and claimed a three-fer. The England camp had kicked up a fuss and caused a controversy claiming he was not a like-for-like replacement for Dube, a batter who bowls occasional spin. Fortunately, there was no such controversy for Rana on his ODI debut.
–IANS
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