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Former cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar believes that the economy of debutant Harshit Rana against England in the opening ODI in Nagpur can be overlooked and it's the impact he made with three crucial wickets in "many ways" sealing the game for India, that needs to be focused on.
In the last seven days, the young seamer has put in the hard yards and made his T20I and ODI debut for India. In his maiden T20I appearance, Harshit came in as a concussion substitute for Shivam Dube and left England rattled with his blistering pace. He struck at the crucial junctures and returned with match-winning figures of 3/33. Unlike his T20I debut, Harshit's stint in the ODIs started on a dreadful note. The English batters were marauding runs off his overs, with his figures standing at 37 conceded with the new ball in his first three in the powerplay. But Harshit refused to go down without putting up a fight. He continued to back his strengths and scythed three key wickets for India, which played a massive part in England succumbing to 248. The 23-year-old's seven-over spell ended with figures of 3/53 with an economy of 7.60, the most expensive in the Indian bowling unit. "Its never really about economy. Harshit Rana was the most expensive Indian bowler, but he got three crucial wickets and in many ways, sealed the game for India to win at the halfway stage." Manjrekar wrote on X. Harshit appeared out of his depth when Philip Salt ruthlessly hammered him in the sixth over by tonking three sixes and two fours to take 26 runs from the over. But Harshit showed he had more to his craft when he returned to the attack in the 10th over. With a short-length delivery, Harshit took Ben Duckett by surprise and forced a top edge out of his pull shot. With a stunning peice of fielding, Yashasvi Jaiswal sprinted backwards to complete the catch, handing Harshit his maiden ODI scalp. Just two deliveries later, Harshit roared to celebrate his second scalp. His second victim was none other than England's young prodigy Harry Brook, who gloved it away to KL Rahul for a three-ball duck. Harshit, who has excelled in the death overs in the T20Is, was entrusted to deliver in the middle overs. His third and final scalp of the day was of Liam Livingstone. The explosive all-rounder gave into his itch to break free. In his attempt to go big, he lost his shape and gave away a thick edge to Rahul. (ANI)
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