Harshit Rana and Kuldeep Yadav in action against Australia in Sydney. (AP and BCCI X)Matt Renshaw had just fallen when captain Shubman Gill asked Harshit Rana whether he needed a slip for the new batsman Mitchell Owen. Rana said, no, he didn’t need one. Rohit Sharma too joined in on the chat, that Rana would reveal to the broadcaster later on: “Why can’t you bowl with a slip?”. And as things turned out, Rohit swallowed a catch at first slip off a 141.80 back-of-length screamer that straightened to take the edge of Owen.
“I was like this before — just go and give your heart out. But the support staff changed my mind and I was like, just give your heart out but with the brain also,” Rana said at the end of the match. In a series where India lost, Rana had been a hard puzzle to solve. “What does he offer?” has been the question on everyone’s lips for the pacer seemed to be getting game time purely based on promise and potential without any numbers to back.
It was perhaps the night that Rana needed. In what has been a testing tour, where he has appeared totally out of depth in terms of hitting the right lengths and bowling to the field settings, Rana on Sunday was in the thick of action as India folded Australia for 236 with his figures of 4/39 in 8.4 overs playing a key role.
CLUTCH! ⭐⭐⭐⭐#HarshitRana bags his maiden 4-wicket haul in international cricket as #TeamIndia bowl out Australia in Sydney 👏#AUSvIND 👉 3rd ODI | LIVE NOW 👉 https://t.co/0evPIuANAu pic.twitter.com/JXFhwCDgzX
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) October 25, 2025
From the moment he got the new ball, with Arshdeep Singh missing the fixture and Prasidh Krishna getting a game, Rana appeared liberated. Surely, it couldn’t go worse from here, he perhaps thought. In his first spell, he hit the right lengths, but the inexperience of bowling at least one loose delivery an over repeated again as his first four overs cost 21. And before Rana could conjure some inspired performance, it was the spinners who brought India into the game.
Kuldeep Yadav’s exclusion in the last two ODIs had begged belief and at Sydney, he showed how far this attack can benefit with his presence. While it was the two finger spinners – Axar Patel and Washington Sundar, who were picked ahead of him that did the damage in the middle-overs – Kuldeep showed he can offer more attacking options at the other end. After Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh gave a flying start, Mohammed Siraj broke the stand by removing the former. It was then Axar, with his unerring accuracy, took out Marsh with an armer that slid in past the attempted cut shot.
That wicket allowed Gill to arrest the run-rate with spinners as Washington delivered his 10 overs in a single spell which included the wickets of Matthew Short and Renshaw. And when Rana was called back for a second spell, the innings was in balance with Australia placed at 178/3. He delivered a slower-ball, which was missing in the previous games, to sow some doubts in Alex Carey’s mind. And off the next ball, he had his first wicket thanks to a fine diving catch by Shreyas Iyer. He took out Owen in his next over; his second spell read 4-0-18-2.
Bamboozled! 🤩
Playing away from home for the first time since the ICC T20 World Cup in 2024, #KuldeepYadav marks his return to the squad with a gem of a delivery! 😎#AUSvIND 👉 3rd ODI | LIVE NOW 👉 https://t.co/0evPIuANAu pic.twitter.com/eVUH1Or1De
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) October 25, 2025
Although Rana stepped up on the night, the performance of India’s third seamer – Prasidh being the case here, once again came under the spotlight. Having shone through the IPL, the decks in Australia would have made the Karnataka seamer more at home. Instead, he continued with his trend of being taken apart as his seven overs cost 52 to go with the lone wicket of Nathan Ellis off a full-toss.
Having broken through Australia in the middle-overs, Rana finished off the innings with two strikes of Cooper Connolly and Josh Hazlewood. “The one thing Morne (Morkel) told me is that in Australia you have bounce and pace and you just don’t get carried away and don’t start bowling those short balls. In the first game, I was a little short. Then he showed me my stats and he was like, you just need to be two meters ahead and you’ll be good,” Rana said.
The scorecard showed 236, the sort of performance that showed once again that if India opted for specialists over all-rounders they had enough arsenal to trouble the opposition. Nitish Kumar Reddy’s injury paved the way for Kuldeep’s inclusion here, who despite having only one wicket to show, provided Gill with more options. In his first seven overs – delivered in two spells he went for 45, but once the new batsmen came in, he was back to his best, troubling them with variations.
For a side that looked unbeatable only six months ago in the Champions Trophy, the series loss here had to do more with the combination lock. At Sydney, they came out of it and got to experience what it can do to the team as chasing a moderate total, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli killed the chase early. The next series at home against South Africa should provide more clarity to this team with an eye on the next World Cup.
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