India have allowed New Zealand to create history on tour, after the Kiwis managed to stage an ODI series win in the country for the first time, after they had won a Test series in India in 2025. But even in the 2-1 loss, some performances by Indian players have been positive. Harshit Rana’s maiden fifty, one that brought the run-rate down slightly when India were staring at 11-an-over in Indore on Sunday, wasn’t just a positive for one of coach Gautam Gambhir’s preferred selections, but has also made a former detractor complete a U-turn about his batting. Earlier Kris Srikkanth, former India opener, had criticised the team management for playing Harshit Rana as a batting option over Shivam Dube. But Srikkanth’s mind has clearly changed after the last two innings where Rana showed out, despite being a part of India’s losses. Also Read | IND vs NZ: Now it is about India pleading Virat Kohli to stay on for 2027 World Cup Srikkanth, on his YouTube channel, picked out Rana’s innings and impact as a positive for India’s batting at Indore. “But the real game-changer was Harshit Rana. The way Rana was batting, New Zealand players were shivering. I was amazed by Rana’s batting and performed at a different level. They were literally shaking and didn’t know what to do. He was hitting sixes effortlessly and his batting was tremendous.” He then spoke about the near hundred run partnership stitched together by Virat Kohli and Rana in order to bring India closer to the win. “Out of the 99 runs that Virat Kohli and Harshit Rana added, Rana made 52. That 52 runs were crucial and gave Kohli hope even though the asking rate was above 11. Rana’s hitting reduced it to 10 and New Zealand were scared. New Zealand captain was scared too,” he added. Story continues below this ad Despite taking India near the line, both Rana and Kohli lost their wickets. Srikkanth on his channel, called Kohli king and said that he, and Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana steadied the Indian innings when established batters like Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul weren’t able to get a foot in the match. “What a knock! If you look at the scorecard and the fall of wickets, they fell continuously. It was 1/28, 2/45, 3/68 and 4/71. Nitish Kumar Reddy came and steadied the innings and later hit sixes,” Srikkanth said.
‘New Zealand captain was scared’: Kris Srikkanth praises Harshit Rana
