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2 min readJul 9, 2026 02:26 PM IST
Harshit Rana in action. (FILE photo)
India lost five wickets in the power play against England in the third T20I. Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue picked up five wickets in a fiery spell. However, to everyone’s surprise, after Axar Patel’s wicket, Harshit Rana walked in; he is a bowling all-rounder, not the designated batter, Shivam Dube. Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik slammed the management for promoting Rana.
“For a start, it feels like India’s middle order looks rather unsettled for a world champion side. Why is there a collapse happening way too often? Harshit Rana was sent ahead of Shivam Dube, really? You’re telling me in a chase of 200, there is a better chance that Harshit Rana could come and bat in the powerplay and take you over the line ahead of a Shivam Dube? I understand a left-right combination, but will this lack of confidence in Shivam Dube batting against high pace or powerplay make him doubt himself?” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
“Take the case of Sanju Samson, three matches after the World Cup, in which he was the player of the tournament, he’s been dropped. Though Gautam Gambhir has come out and said his form is a concern, they are not happy with that, and hence, communication has been sent to Sanju. I hope Sanju accepts and understands the situation,” Dinesh Karthik concluded.
“I think it was atrocious. I couldn’t use a better word, honestly. Losing by such a big margin is definitely not acceptable. First things first, I feel that we need to accept this loss and completely go back to the drawing board and see what we did wrong. Looking at the wicket, I don’t think that it was a 200 wicket, first of all, to start with. But other than that, the way we batted, we lost four (five) wickets in the powerplay. I think that itself did create the momentum, and definitely I feel that we lost over there. So, we’ve got to go back to the drawing board,” Shreyas Iyer said after losing the game.
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