Harshit Rana

[vvvslaxman]

2 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

1 )  Harshit has picked 10 wickets from just 5 ODIs.  Average of 20.7.  ER of 5.7 which is very acceptable these days. This shows massive wicket taking ability.

 

2)  He has picked 5 wickets from 3 T20Is averaging 22.4.  ER of 10.18 is high though.

 

So he has displayed massive wicket taking ability in both LOI formats and decent ER in ODIs.

 

What pudding and what doing are you talking about ????

 

3)  Even if he had not done the above, trying to judge a rookie pacer, batter or spinner by their performance, after a few early games, is the wrong approach. 

 

"massive wicekt taking ability" -  That is an over-statement.  How you take wickets kinda give an idea how good their future is. Let us see in an year's time and see how good he is. He has scope for Tests as we don't have many . 

 

[express bowling]

1 minute ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

"massive wicekt taking ability" -  That is an over-statement.  How you take wickets kinda give an idea how good their future is. Let us see in an year's time and see how good he is. He has scope for Tests as we don't have many . 

 

 

" Massive wicket taking ability " was a statement for the 8 LOIs he has already played till date and picked 15 wickets. 2 wickets per LOI is really good by any standard.

 

And it is because you asked for the " pudding and the doing " instead of assessment for the future. 

 

If he regresses later on ( 2nd season blues are very very common ), it just means he and his coaches have to work on what is going wrong.

 

This is a very standard process.

[vvvslaxman]

5 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

" Massive wicket taking ability " was a statement for the 8 LOIs he has already played till date and picked 15 wickets. 2 wickets per LOI is really good by any standard.

 

And it is because you asked for the " pudding and the doing " instead of assessment for the future. 

 

If he regresses later on ( 2nd season blues are very very common ), it just means he and his coaches have to work on what is going wrong.

 

This is a very standard process.

 

He is like gazillionth bowler we hype for hte last 10 or 15 years. Arshdeep is incidentally the least hyped bowler. He delivered under pressure.

[Nikhil_cric]

42 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Proof is in the pudding. Will be convinced when he actually does something. 

Averaging 20 in ODIs is not doing something ?

 

What does he need to do to get a longer run ?

Edited October 5, 2025 by Nikhil_cric

[vvvslaxman]

1 hour ago, Nikhil_cric said:

Averaging 20 in ODIs is not doing something ?

 

What does he need to do to get a longer run ?

So him averaging 50 in tests should deserve axing? 

[singhvivek141]

27 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

So him averaging 50 in tests should deserve axing? 

 

Not every bowler start to hit the mark from first game itself.

 

Harshit has shown potential to perform and improve, yeah, as he is relatively inexperienced at the FC level, he does need better coaching to plan which deliveries to bowl when. But Harshit has shown that he is a thinking bowler and does plan and execute the things.

 

Thiis is very much anti Umesh Yadav, who lacked control and relied mostly on Jaffas to get wickets. Umesh was extremely skillful but didnt have the ability to strategize and execute a plan.

[Nikhil_cric]

33 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

So him averaging 50 in tests should deserve axing? 

What are you even arguing about ? First you questioned his ability in LOI cricket and his ceiling and now when I brought up his attributes and numbers in ODI cricket, you are bringing his Test bowling average?

 

 

[vvvslaxman]

1 minute ago, singhvivek141 said:

 

Not every bowler start to hit the mark from first game itself.

 

Harshit has shown potential to perform and improve, yeah, as he is relatively inexperienced at the FC level, he does need better coaching to plan which deliveries to bowl when. But Harshit has shown that he is a thinking bowler and does plan and execute the things.

 

Thiis is very much anti Umesh Yadav, who lacked control and relied mostly on Jaffas to get wickets. Umesh was extremely skillful but didnt have the ability to strategize and execute a plan.

 

SO far he is getting some preferential treatment. Definitely not for the reasons you have outlined. Prasidh has shown more promise in ODI. Also did bowl well in Test.  Not sure why Siraj got sidelined. With Shami out who is going to be his replacement? 

[vvvslaxman]

3 minutes ago, Nikhil_cric said:

What are you even arguing about ? First you questioned his ability in LOI cricket and his ceiling and now when I brought up his attributes and numbers in ODI cricket, you are bringing his Test bowling average?

 

 

How is he having better record than Prasidh, Siraj?  

[Nikhil_cric]

2 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

How is he having better record than Prasidh, Siraj?  

In which format specifically ?

[vvvslaxman]

Just now, Nikhil_cric said:

In which format specifically ?

In ODIs?

[Nikhil_cric]

Just now, vvvslaxman said:

In ODIs?

He has taken 10 wickets in 5 ODIs at 20.70. What exactly is bad about this record that he needs to be dropped ?

[singhvivek141]

11 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

SO far he is getting some preferential treatment. Definitely not for the reasons you have outlined. Prasidh has shown more promise in ODI. Also did bowl well in Test.  Not sure why Siraj got sidelined. With Shami out who is going to be his replacement? 

Siraj was struggling with the old ball in ODI, his utility was mostly with the new ball and then nothing.

We did this blunder in 2023 ODI WC final, when Shami was used with Bumrah against new ball to make early dents. Siraj was totally useless with old ball.
Another problem we have is if we play all 3 of Shami, Bumrah, Siraj in and ODI with Kuldeep as our 4th bowler...effectively we will be playing with a tail from 8-11. Prasidh too is sailing in the same boat.

Unless we unearth a new pace-allrounder. We would continue this juggle. Harshit is just 23-24 so has potential to play for long. Likes of Prasidh's are closing into 30's and with their iffy fitness, may not be a long term viable option. Siraj and Bumrah are already in 31-32 range.

We actually need under 25 year old pacers. Prasidh's , Akashdeep's are stop-gap options for next 3-4 years but to have a long career we need to pull in young bowlers like Gurnoor in the mix as well.

It's important to have a pool of 8-10 pacers, 4-5 of them under 25 years of age atleast, this will keep the production line active so that by the time oldies retire. We still will have those young pacers with decent experience to continue

Edited October 5, 2025 by singhvivek141

[vvvslaxman]

8 minutes ago, Nikhil_cric said:

He has taken 10 wickets in 5 ODIs at 20.70. What exactly is bad about this record that he needs to be dropped ?

Avesh khan last 2 yeasr 3 matches 6 wickets 19.16 average 4.82 ER.  Must be i n contention too? These short samples can be twisted any way we want. Infact Mo Shami 14 matches 35 wickets 16.97 average last 2 years. 

[vvvslaxman]

9 minutes ago, singhvivek141 said:

Siraj was struggling with the old ball in ODI, his utility was mostly with the new ball and then nothing.

We did this blunder in 2023 ODI WC final, when Shami was used with Bumrah against new ball to make early dents. Siraj was totally useless with old ball.
Another problem we have is if we play all 3 of Shami, Bumrah, Siraj in and ODI with Kuldeep as our 4th bowler...effectively we will be playing with a tail from 8-11. Prasidh too is sailing in the same boat.

Unless we unearth a new pace-allrounder. We would continue this juggle. Harshit is just 23-24 so has potential to play for long. Likes of Prasidh's are closing into 30's and with their iffy fitness, may not be a long term viable option. Siraj and Bumrah are already in 31-32 range.

We actually need under 25 year old pacers. Prasidh's , Akashdeep's are stop-gap options for next 3-4 years but to have a long career we need to pull in young bowlers like Gurnoor in the mix as well.

It's important to have a pool of 8-10 pacers, 4-5 of them under 25 years of age atleast, this will keep the production line active so that by the time oldies retire. We still will have those young pacers with decent experience to continue

Fair enough.  The way he bowled against Srilanka and few other matches i saw doesn't give me any hope. Even Thakur was taking wickets somehow at the start of his career.  Let us wait for an year and see where he goes. Arshdeep delivered under pressure in many matches in the IPL got picked. He did the same in many matches except at the start. 

[express bowling]

Arshdeep is in both the Indian LOI squads and rightly getting picked as the 2nd pacer in T20Is.

 

So his point is moot in a discussion about choosing Harshit in LOIs.

[Nikhil_cric]

1 hour ago, vvvslaxman said:

Avesh khan last 2 yeasr 3 matches 6 wickets 19.16 average 4.82 ER.  Must be i n contention too? These short samples can be twisted any way we want. Infact Mo Shami 14 matches 35 wickets 16.97 average last 2 years. 

Now where has Avesh Khan come from? Avesh is 4-5 years older, does not have the pace either. 

[deepdynamo]

I am slowly losing my confidence in Harshit, the more I see him bowl. Unless, he can improve his batting tenfold I doubt he can be of any asset in WC 2027. SENA team will feast on his bowling. He couldn't even handle Nissanka. 

[Need4Speed]

In white ball.. Harshit just goes overboard on short and slow balls..

the slow balls even dont seem well disguised and become predictsble..

perhaps in the nets and domestic he just need to first practice consistently bowl thousands of good stock ball..with pin point accuracy..like just short of good length with not enough room..

 

after getting that control he can then mix up with well targeted,with intent and purpose…short balls,slower ones and yorkers..

 

we will then see the magic happen due to his height,pace and agression.

[Suhaan]

First thing first,needs to loose quite a bit of weight

He's highly unfit,playing professional cricket that too being a fast bowlers you need better stamina than batters and spinners

And ,he should play more regularly,

Then we can make opinions, intermittent opportunity doesn't help either