“I think Harshit Rana is a good pick for Australia” – Sanjay Manjrekar on India’s inexperienced seam attack for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25

Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar reckons Harshit Rana is a good pick for the Border-Gavaskar trophy against Australia, by the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel. Rana is expected to get extra bounce on the Australian pitches because of his height and he is also a hit-the-deck bowler.

The 22-year-old from Delhi has picked 36 wickets in nine first-class matches at an average of 24.75. Rana impressed one and all with his performances in IPL 2024 for Kolkata Knight Riders. The youngster picked 19 wickets in 13 matches for the Shreyas Iyer-led team and played a key role in taking the team to glory. 

Meanwhile, Indian selectors have picked Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, and Prasidh Krishna as the other four seamers for the Australia tour.

“That tends to happen. If you look at every tour that India has been overseas, you would have one player who is playing one of his first Test matches or on his first tour as well, and that happens to all teams,” Sanjay Manjrekar said on Star Sports show Follow the Blues.

“Very rarely do you get these days four or five bowlers with all of them having a lot of experience. However, I like Harshit Rana, whatever we have seen of him. I think Harshit Rana is a good pick for Australia,” the former India batter added.

On the other hand, Manjrekar reckons that India’s fast bowler Akash Deep needs to put a little more into his bowling to get the best out of himself while playing Down Under.

“Akash Deep, as he unraveled in front of us, I feel that he needs to put in a little more with what he does as his natural bowling style, which will be useful in Australia, the kind of length and seam bowling that he does, a bit like Mohammed Shami. However, he just has to put a little more. Shami was effective because there were great wrists behind the ball and he got more out of the pitches,” he said.

The cricketer-turned-commentator said the experienced duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj will need to lead the pace battery.

“It’s a fallacy to think that you go to Australia and you just land the ball there, and the pitch will do everything for you. In fact, it does less than what it does in South Africa. You got to hit that deck there. So I want Akash Deep to do that. So I think they will be okay. Bumrah and Siraj will carry the burden,” Manjrekar observed.

The opening Test match between India and Australia will be played at Perth from November 22 onwards.