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India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate confirmed that speedster Harshit Rana has fully recovered from his injury after completing rehabilitation and clearance at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
Rana has been added to the India squad for the third and final One-Day International match against Afghanistan, which will be played on Saturday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, although he is unlikely to feature in the next match, confirms Doeschate. Doeschate said the focus at this stage is to gradually reintegrate Rana into the team environment and ensure he is physically ready for a demanding upcoming schedule over the next five to six weeks, with mental readiness to be addressed in due course. "He's put a body of work in at NCA. He's got the clearance from NCA. He's obviously joined us here today. He seems fully fit. I'm sure he's going to have a run today. I can't see any shape of him playing tomorrow. So just to get him around the team again, he seemed very chirpy and happy, there were no signs of him carrying any baggage around that injury," Doeschate told the reporters. "It's going to be a big stint of work coming up in the next five, six weeks as well. So, the priority is to make sure that he's absolutely ready body-wise, and we'll sort the mental stuff out after that," he added. Rana has also been selected for the upcoming T20I series in Ireland and England, where Shreyas Iyer will be leading the T20I side as a full-time skipper in the format. Doeschate also backed spinner Kuldeep Yadav, saying his recent performances have been solid and not a cause for concern. He pointed out that Yadav hasn't had consistent game time, which can affect rhythm, but the team values his attacking style and continues to see him as an important "risk" or mystery spin option depending on conditions. "Look, the wickets aren't always there, and I thought he bowled really well the other night. He's also someone who hasn't played a continuous string of games for a while, even in the test matches he hasn't always played. No real concerns about him. We always like to play a risk spinner or a mystery spinner, as the case may be," he added. Team India will be playing the final ODI against Afghanistan at Chennai on Saturday, with the series 2-0 in favour of India already. (ANI)
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