The Indian cricket fans are pretty excited because tomorrow they will witness the start of a new era in Indian test cricket when Shubman Gill-led team will enter the field to face the England team in their home ground. After the long time, team India will be playing without the three senior players – Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin and it will be interesting to see how this young team will perform in 5-match test series against England.
As the Indian men’s cricket team enters the final stretch of their preparations for the five-match Test series against England, which begins Friday in Leeds, a late change has added a fresh layer of intrigue. Harshit Rana, a 23 years old right-arm pacer, has been brought into the squad as an additional fast bowler for the series opener. His inclusion follows a stint with the India A team, where he featured in the first unofficial Test against England Lions, ending with figures of 1 for 99 from 27 overs.
The decision to bring Harshit Rana into the main squad has triggered speculation, especially after fellow fast bowler Mukesh Kumar shared a cryptic post on Instagram. Without naming anyone directly, Mukesh wrote, “Karma bides its time. You will always have to watch out. Karma is unforgiving and always gets payback,” prompting many to interpret it as a reaction to being overlooked.
Mukesh, who also played in the same unofficial Test, returned more impressive figures, 3 for 92 in 25 overs, including the key wickets of Max Holden and England Lions captain James Rew.
Mukesh, 31, made his Test debut during India’s 2023 tour of West Indies and has since claimed seven wickets from three matches. Although he was part of the squad for the Australia tour in 2024–25, he was only a traveling reserve and was eventually released midway through the series.
Harshit Rana, on the other hand, made his Test debut during the same Australia series and has played two matches so far, taking four wickets. His latest call-up hasn’t gone unnoticed, with former India pacer Dodda Ganesh publicly questioning the team management’s selection approach. He voiced his discontent on social media, stating that Anshul Kamboj should have been preferred and that he fails to understand what he described as an “obsession” with Harshit Rana.
This selection shift comes as India embarks on their first assignment in the new ICC World Test Championship cycle, which officially began earlier this week with the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Test in Galle. With the series set to test the depth and resilience of India’s young squad, all eyes will now be on how Harshit Rana’s inclusion plays out on the field.
