India's batting coach Abhishek Nayar dismisses reports of Harshit Rana's inclusion in the squad.
Reports emerged yesterday about changes in the Indian team for the final Test against New Zealand. The news was about the inclusion of Delhi's young pacer, Harshit Rana, in the squad. The report also stated that Rana would make his Test debut on Friday at the Wankhede Stadium. Rana was initially with the Indian team as a traveling reserve at the start of the series in Bengaluru. He later left the camp to play for Delhi in the third round of the Ranji Trophy against Assam.
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However, India's batting coach, Abhishek Nayar, has denied the reports of Rana's inclusion. He stated, "No additions to the squad. Every week is critical, every day is critical. We have not been narrow-minded in thinking about the WTC final. We want to focus of this match " Abhishek clarified this in a press conference today. The 22-year-old Rana delivered an impressive performance with both bat and ball, helping Delhi secure a 10-wicket victory against Assam at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday. Rana took seven wickets in the match and scored 59 runs in the first innings.
After the match, he also spoke about playing for the Indian team. “The team management wanted me to play domestic before going to Australia and I am glad that I did well in this match both with bat and ball,” Rana said after the Ranji Trophy match against Assam. The right-arm quick, who played in the Duleep Trophy last month, took eight wickets in two matches. He was later selected for India's T20 squad against Bangladesh but didn't get a chance to play.
Rana was also included in the 18-member squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. He will be part of the six-member seam attack led by Jasprit Bumrah.
Indian Team for the 3rd Test against New Zealand: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Washington Sundar.
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