Harshit Rana Misses Out on Possible Debut for India; Left Out of Squad for Third T20I vs BAN Due to Viral Infection

Heartbreak ensues for pacer Harshit Rana who, upon anticipating a possible debut for India, was ruled out of selection for the third T20I due to a viral infection on Saturday.

Coming into the third and final T20I against Bangladesh, Rana was amongst the young guns expected to get his maiden cap for India.

Following India’s trend of figuring out their strongest squad by experimenting with debutants such as Mayank Yadav and Nitish Kumar Reddy, it almost seemed to be in the cards for Rana to be the next one in line to earn his chance at showcasing his talent at the international level.

But, in an unfortunate turn of events, Harshit Rana was ruled out of action completely due to a viral infection, rendering him unable to travel with the Indian squad to the stadium Hyderabad for the final T20I.

One would hope for the youngster to bounce back in time for the Test series against New Zealand, starting in the upcoming weeks, so as to keep his hopes of making his international debut alive.

Mayank and Nitish recently made their international debuts in the T20I series against Najmul Hossain Shanto’s Bangladesh and did not let their teams down.

After being cruelly denied the opportunity of a lifetime due to injury, Nitish Kumar Reddy made his mark for India with an all-round dispaly during the second T20I vs Bangladesh in New Delhi.

Similarly, Mayank Yadav has also plied his trade, scalping a wicket each in both of the outings so far against Bangladesh in the T20Is.

With the squad consisting of young brimming talents, Ryan ten Doeschate dropped a subtle hint about India wanting to experiment with new talent on Friday.

“Yeah, that was always the plan. Obviously, there’s nice depth in the squad, and a lot of guys have got IPL experience. We try to expose as many guys as we can to international experience with what we’ve got coming up. So someone like Harshit Rana we’re keen to give a game to. Obviously, Tilak came into the squad a bit later,” he said in the pre-match press conference on the eve of the final T20I against Bangladesh.

But, alas, it seems as if Rana is slated to wait for just a while longer.