"This Belongs To You": Harshit Celebrates India ODI Call-Up With Father

Indian pacer Harshit Rana posted a heartwarming picture on social media, celebrating his call-up to the ODI team with his father and telling him that this accomplishment of his life “belongs to him”. Harshit Rana was among the younger and newer stars named in the white-ball team for India’s white-ball tour of Sri Lanka starting from July 27 onwards. This will be India’s first-ever international assignment under the new head coach, Gautam Gambhir. The former opener was announced as India’s coach earlier in July after Rahul Dravid’s contract ended following Men in Blue’s ICC T20 World Cup title win.

Taking to Instagram, Rana wrote, “This BELONGS to you…LOVE YOU DAD.” In the past, Rana lifted his father, Pradeep, in his arms, who was wearing an Indian jersey.

Rana was also a part of the squad for the Zimbabwe tour this month, which involved five T20I matches, but did not play a game. Harshit had a splendid IPL with tournament winners Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), a team which Gambhir mentored to their first title in a decade and overall their third. The 22-year-old picked 19 wickets at an average of 20.15, picking big scalps throughout the season, including Heinrich Klaasen, Virat Kohli, Faf Du Plessis, and KL Rahul. He was the fourth-highest wicket-taker in the season.

Notably, Rana has taken 28 wickets in 25 T20Is. Notably, the Delhi bowler can bat as well, as he has a century and fifty each in first-class cricket, in which he averages 49.00 in nine innings with a strike rate of 89.

India will be led by two different captains for the T20I and ODI legs of the Sri Lanka tour, all set to commence on 27 July. With Rohit Sharma having retired from the T20Is, Suryakumar Yadav will lead the side in the shortest format against Sri Lanka. Barring a few changes, the side bears a familiar look to the squad that featured in India’s successful ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 campaign.

The ODI side sees a number of stalwarts, including Rohit and Virat Kohli, return to the setup. The squad looks similar to the one which dominated the 2023 50-over World Cup in India, ending up as runners-up to Australia in a heartbreaking loss after a 10-match win streak.

T20I Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), duhubman Gill (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj.

ODI Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.

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