Team management wants to groom me as an all-rounder: Harshit Rana

India’s focus on developing multidimensional cricketers was underlined after their four-wicket victory over New Zealand in the opening ODI, with pacer Harshit Rana revealing that the team management wants to “groom him” as an all-rounder and has asked him to improve his batting to eventually slot in at No. 8.

Chasing 301, India lost opener Rohit Sharma early before skipper Shubman Gill (56) and Virat Kohli (93) stitched together a sublime, match-winning partnership of 118 runs for the second wicket. Shreyas Iyer (49), Rana (29) and KL Rahul (29 not out) then ensured India crossed the line comfortably. Notably, Rana was promoted ahead of all-rounder Washington Sundar to bat at No. 7 and played a vital cameo faming 23 balls.

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“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 at the post-match press conference.

“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.

Earlier, after being asked to bat, New Zealand made a strong start through openers Devon Conway (56) and Henry Nicholls (62), who put on a fluent 117-run stand. Daryl Mitchell then anchored the innings with a well-paced 84, blending caution with aggression. Mohammed Siraj led the Indian bowling effort with figures of 2/40, while Prasidh Krishna and Rana chipped in with two wickets each.

Responding to questions about India’s inability to strike early with the new ball, especially in the absence of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, Rana was quick to defend the bowling unit.

“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 said.