“India Considering Harshit Rana For No. 8 Spot”– Former RCB Player On Possible XI For 2nd T20I Vs Australia

Former India and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) cricketer Dinesh Karthik feels there’s no need for India to alter their playing XI for the second T20I against Australia on Friday, October 31, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). According to Karthik, the team plans to slot Harshit Rana at number eight to compensate for the absence of Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Since Reddy, a seam-bowling all-rounder, is unavailable for the first three matches of the five-match series, India opted to include Harshit Rana as the second specialist pacer alongside Jasprit Bumrah. Rana also made valuable contributions with the bat in the second ODI against Australia, although many questioned the decision to leave out Arshdeep Singh.

When asked if India might consider any lineup changes, the 40-year-old, currently serving as RCB’s mentor, shared his thoughts on Cricbuzz:

“No. As much as I like the show to be long, no. I don’t think they will make any changes because Nitish Kumar Reddy is not there, so they want to play Harshit Rana at No.8 to get that batting.”

Dinesh Karthik Expects No Changes For Second T20I

The former wicketkeeper-batter mentioned that it was difficult to make any clear assessments from a match affected by rain and predicted that Australia would also stick with the same playing XI. He further explained:

“If you look at them, Josh Hazlewood is obviously going to play one game, so it’s going to be the same. The one change they might be tempted is if looking at Bartlett, if they can bring in a left-arm option which I don’t think they will do, considering how well he bowled in the second ODI.”

“So, I think they will also play the same eleven. Don’t think you can tell much. If you go after this game and drop a player and say we are moving on, ‘he will say why?’ Then you don’t have anywhere to go.”

In the opening T20I in Canberra, Australia’s captain Mitchell Marsh chose to bowl first after winning the toss. Despite managing to dismiss Abhishek Sharma for 19, India raced to 97/1 in just 9.4 overs before heavy rain forced the match to be abandoned.