‘Are you kidding me?’ – Dinesh Karthik fumes after seeing Harshit Rana bat in the powerplay in 3rd T20I

Dinesh Karthik, like many others, was baffled after watching Harshit Rana walk out to bat ahead of Shivam Dube during the powerplay in the third T20I between India and England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, on Tuesday, July 7.

Chasing a daunting 202-run target, the visitors lost five wickets inside the first five overs. England’s new-ball duo of Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue wreaked havoc as Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, and Axar Patel were made to bite the dust.

In dire straits, India needed experience in the middle and fans were hoping to see a counter-attack from batting all-rounder Shivam Dube. However, it was fast bowler Harshit Rana, who walked out to bat in the sixth over of the run-chase. This decision from the Gautam Gambhir-led Indian team management baffled Karthik, who was doing commentary at the time. Tilak Varma was batting at the other end and the former wicketkeeper-batter said that deploying a left-right combination can work in T20 cricket but that doesn’t justify the decision to send Rana ahead of Dube.

“Harshit Rana coming to bat before Shivam Dube, are you kidding me? I don’t even think Harshit Rana has ever batted in the powerplay, even in domestic cricket,” Karthik said on commentary.

“You can get the left-right combination working in T20 cricket, but only up to a point. Not Harshit Rana ahead of Shivam Dube,” he added.

While Rana has worked hard on his batting and can tonk the ball for sixes, sending him out to bat ahead of a proven batter like Dube was a perplexing move that didn’t sit well with too many in the cricket fraternity. Rana was eventually dismissed for nine runs off 13 balls. Dube, who batted at No. 8, could only manage two runs in four deliveries.

India were eventually bowled out for just 76 in 11.4 overs as England took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. The fourth T20I will be played at the County Ground in Bristol on Thursday, July 9. India will have to win that game to stay alive in the series.