Team India might be losing sleep over Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness for the upcoming Champions Trophy. After all, the star pacer has already missed the IND vs ENG T20Is, and also the ODIs, where he was supposed to feature in the last match. In short, although Bumrah is in the CT squad, but then, there is still no clarity if he will be fit in time for the tounrmament.
Jasprit Bumrah’s Replacement, Harshit Rana?
But then, the way Harshit Rana bowled in the Nagpur ODI, it could just be a signal, that the youngster could be a worth replacement for Bumrah in the Champions Trophy. Look, in his debut match, Rana returned with figures of 3/53. This despite being hit for 26 runs in an over by Phil Salt, early on in his spell.
From there, not only he made a comeback, but also showed that he can bowl and pick wickets under pressure. He removed the likes of Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, and Liam Livingstone, to break the back of English batting line up, after which they were bundled out for only 248.
From IND vs ENG ODIs to Champions Trophy
If that is not enough, just like the T20Is, Harshit Rana showed that he can bowl 150 kmph, or in excess of that. And that would make him the only bowler in the squad, if picked, to be able to generate that pace. Others — Mohammed Shami is on a comeback trail, and would bowl around 135-140 kmph, and Arshdeep Singh would be in the same range too. Hardik Pandya could bowl anywhere between 130-140 kmph — So Harshit would be a good addition for sure.
India Squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja.
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