The Indian team for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been announced. Team India will fly to Perth, Australia on 10 November. In the Indian team selected for the Australia tour, a player has also got a place, who has lost 17 kg of weight to keep himself fit and healthy. Playing against the Australian team in their home has been his childhood dream and the cheering that India got during the last Australia tour has given him another intention to live his dream. We are talking about fast bowler Harshit Rana, who has made a place in Team India's Test team for the first time.
22-year-old Harshit Rana is a star who emerged from the IPL, where he caught everyone's attention by performing brilliantly for Kolkata Knight Riders under the mentorship of Gautam Gambhir. He was first selected for India's white ball team. And, now he has also been selected in the Test team. By taking 5 wickets in the Ranji Trophy match against Assam, he has also tried to prove his selection in the Indian Test team right.
Harshit Rana has been crazy about the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since childhood. In an interview given to the Indian Express, he told the story of his craze and said how he used to wake up at 4 am in the winter of Delhi to watch the India-Australia Test match with his father. Rana said that he has been watching the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since the age of 6. He further said that whether it was Cheteshwar Pujara facing balls on his body in the 2020-21 Border Gavaskar Trophy or the partnership between Ashwin-Hanuma, all these moments have inspired him to play for the country.
It was not easy for Harshit Rana to travel from a common boy of Delhi to Team India. During this time, he had to face a lot of injuries. By the age of 20, he suffered many stress fractures. Harshit's father Pradeep Rana, who is himself an athlete and has represented CRPF in weightlifting and hammer throw, while remembering those difficult days of Harshit, said that his back, groin, shoulder, and almost every part of his body was injured. At that time, I used to take him to the hospital to know why he was getting so many injuries. I tried everything possible. But even then when nothing worked, we left it to fate.
Harshit Rana had to skip the entire Ranji season of 2023-24 due to a hamstring injury. After that injury, Harshit worked on his weight. From November 2023 to the start of IPL 2024 in March, he lost 17 kg of weight, the result of which is that he has not suffered any injury for the last 7 months. Harshit said that the team management is taking good care of his workload. He is getting to learn a lot by training with Team India. He said that he wants to see himself as a bowler in all three formats.
Harshit Rana is eager to make a mark on the Australia tour. He said that he was confident about going to Australia. He had an idea about the kind of training he was a part of. Harshit, who dedicated his selection in Team India for the Australia tour to his father, said that he always wanted to play against Australia because the Australians play cricket just like them.
