Former Indian opener Kris Srikkanth has showered praise on Harshit Rana despite India’s loss in the third ODI against New Zealand. India suffered a 41-run loss against the Kiwis in the final game at Indore and were beaten 2-1 in the series.
Meanwhile, Rana played a fighting knock of 52 runs off just 43 balls to keep India in the contest. Rana added 99 runs off 69 balls with Virat Kohli for the seventh wicket, but he was dismissed right after reaching his maiden ODI fifty.
Srikkanth also praised Virat Kohli for his unbelievable knock of 124 runs off 108 balls.
Kris Srikkanth said on his YouTube Channel, “Virat Kohli is King of Kings. Bow down to him. What a knock! If you look at the scorecard and the fall of wickets, they fell continuously. It was 1/28, 2/45, 3/68 and 4/71. Nitish Kumar Reddy came and steadied the innings and later hit sixes. But the real game-changer was Harshit Rana. The way Rana was batting, New Zealand players were shivering. I was amazed by Rana’s batting and performed at a different level. They were literally shaking and didn’t know what to do. He was hitting sixes effortlessly and his batting was tremendous.”
Srikkanth added that New Zealand were scared when Rana was going strongly with Virat Kohli.
“Out of the 99 runs that Virat Kohli and Harshit Rana added, Rana made 52. Those 52 runs were crucial and gave Kohli hope even though the asking rate was above 11. Rana’s hitting reduced it to 10 and New Zealand were scared. New Zealand captain was scared too,” he added.
Meanwhile, Srikkanth reckons Nitish Kumar Reddy, who scored 53 runs, could have taken the game deeper. He highlighted that Kohli had no option other than to go for the big shots after Harshit Rana’s dismissal.
“Nitish Kumar Reddy might have felt he ate up too many balls, so he went for two sixes and struck a boundary. He made up for that with two sixes. But he could have slowed down then to take the game deeper. But Kohli played an outstanding knock and hit a six in his first few balls. There was no way to get him out. He is not only King of Kings but also King of Chases. It is a rare occasion for Kohli to score a century and lose. Kohli was disappointed after Rana’s dismissal and he had to go for the big shots. He couldn’t depend on Kuldeep Yadav and got dismissed in that desperation,” Srikkanth continued.
India will next take on New Zealand in a five-match T20I series, starting Wednesday.
