Talking about Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma at the 2027 World Cup always raises Gautam Gambhir’s heckles. But the India coach has obviously started planning what the contours of his 2027 squad might look like.
After India sealed the ODI series against South Africa 2-1, Gambhir said he was keen on Harshit Rana slotting in at No 8 to bolster the batting order.
Efforts are underway to make the tall bowler into a competent batsman, which is no surprise given how the likes of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and now Marco Jansen and Corbyn Bosch have been helping their teams irrespective of what the specialist batsmen achieve.
Gambhir was quoted by media as saying, that India had chalked out Rana as their project to lengthen their batting line-up.
“That’s one of the reasons why we are trying to probably develop someone like Harshit, who can actually bat at 8 and contribute with a bat at No. 8,” Cricinfo quoted Gambhir as saying. “That’s how we need to find the balance, because come South Africa in two years’ time, we would be needing three proper seamers as well,” he said.
Rana took 4 wickets in 3 games against South Africa.
While the South African pitches tend to aid batters and offer bounce to bowlers, Rana will still need to actually get the runs to evoke confidence for this ambitious role.
“If he can continue to develop as a bowling allrounder, it’s going to give us a massive boost,” Gambhir said. “Because obviously with Jasprit Bumrah coming back, and what we saw of Arshdeep, Prasidh, and Harshit in this series, was incredible,” he added.
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Rana, Arshdeep and Prasidh are still relatively new to ODI levels, and have their ups and many downs that can be frustrating for fans. But resting Bumrah has helped Gambhir offer chances to them to build a fast bowling cohort, though they aren’t exactly known to be greatly reliable as batsmen.
“All these three guys do not have a lot of experience under their belts, especially in the 50-over format… They’ve hardly played less than 15 ODIs, all these three bowlers, but they’ve done a fabulous job,” Gambhir reckoned. South Africa almost chased down a 350+ in the first ODI, got the chase done in the second, and were pegged back by Prasidh in going past 280 in the third – a target Jaiswal, Sharma and Kohli sauntered to.
But Gambhir is determined to turn Rana into a useful fast bowling all rounder, a Hardik perhaps with fewer injuries. “So I feel that if we can develop someone like Harshit at No. 8, who can contribute with the bat, I think it is going to give us the right balance as well… Let’s see. I think it’s still a long way,” he said.