Gautam Gambhir’s assistant drops Harshit Rana debut hint ahead of 3rd T20I

India went with the same playing eleven for their first two T20Is against Bangladesh. With the series win now in the bag and with Bangladesh hardly being able to provide a fight in the first two matches, what is arguably the biggest topic of discussion is if India will go for wholesale changes in the third T20I to ensure that as many of the young players in the squad get a chance as possible.
If they do so, it would mean an international debut for fast bowler Harshit Rana. The 22-year-old turned heads in the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) as he played an integral role in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ run to the title. India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has now indicated that the team management might prioritise giving some of the players on the bench opportunities ahead of the third T20I.
“Obviously, there’s nice depth in the squad, and a lot of guys have got IPL experience. We try to expose as many guys as we can to international experience with what we’ve got coming up. So someone like Harshit Rana we’re keen to give a game to. Obviously, Tilak (Varma) came into the squad a bit later,” he said in the pre-match press conference on the eve of the final T20I in Hyderabad.
Ten Doeschate also indicated that India may give Sanju Samson one more game even with Jitesh Sharma on the bench. Samson has opened the innings in the series with Abhishek Sharma. “Jitesh is there as well, but we want to give Sanju another chance. So there are options, and certainly the plan originally was to win the series, get the series won and then try a few new faces for the last game,” said the former Netherlands all-rounder.
Despite all these considerations for accomodating players in the side, Ten Doeschate says that the primary goal is to win the match and complete a 5-0 clean sweep over Bangladesh. India had won the preceding two-match Test series 2-0 and are now looking to win the T20I series 3-0. “The messaging from Gauti (Gambhir), the importance of each game playing for your country and also putting yourself under pressure every time, so there’s absolutely no talk about not putting that as the focus for tomorrow. We want to win and complete the 5-0 (2-0 in Tests, and 3-0 in T20Is) series,” he added.