Jasprit Bumrah is ruled out of the upcoming Champions Trophy, owing to a back injury. In his absence, the selectors have called up Harshit Rana to the 15-member squad. In the ODI series against England, he featured ahead of Arshdeep Singh and it is now believed that the Delhi-born pacer may also be India’s first-choice in the playing XI.
Former cricketer Ricky Ponting however backed Arshdeep for the spot. The two-time Champions Trophy winner reminded Arshdeep’s destructive spells in T20 cricket and added that he can bowl in the death like Bumrah has done for several years. He believes that the 26-year-old has a similar skill set as Bumrah and his variation can be key for India in the marquee tournament.
“I would go with the left-armer and I'd go with Arshdeep (to replace Bumrah). We know how good he's been in T20 cricket and if you think about the skill set, he probably provides a similar skill set to what Bumrah does with new ball and death overs and that's what India will miss,” Ponting said on The ICC Review.
“That's taking nothing away from Harshit Rana because I think he has got a lot of talent and we know what he can do with the new ball, but I don't think his death skills are as good as what Arshdeep Singh’s are. And just that left-arm variation, someone that can bowl left-arm with a new ball and move the new ball. We know how important they are and crucial they can be, especially in big tournaments,” he added.
India will play Bangladesh in their opening game of the campaign on February 20 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Ahead of that, the Bangla Tigers suffered an embarrassing seven-wicket defeat to Pakistan Shaheens. They would hope to address some of the areas, if not all, before challenging India.