Harshit shines on debut after trial by fire in opening spell

Those extra 25 miles per hour. That's what England captain Jos Buttler said when he was asked about Harshit Rana being allowed to replace Shivam Dube in the Pune T20I. The jury is out on whether the application of the concussion rules made any sense then.

- Rasesh Mandani

NAGPUR:

But Rana was able to use his extra pace to inflict enough misery on England that night and he repeated the dose under the hot afternoon sun in Nagpur. This time, on ODI debut.

To begin with, it was a trial by fire for the 23-year-old. Having got his eye in, Phil Salt launched into Rana, smashing three sixes and two fours in the sixth over of the innings.

It started with a horizontal swat that caught the top edge and sailed into the stands behind the wicketkeeper. When the pacer tried to correct his length, he was driven through the off-side for four. Next ball, Rana slowed his pace, but his former KKR teammate swept him dismissively over the deep square boundary. A dot ball later, he was hit for four through the off-side and then, a six on the on-side.