Former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has chastised pacer Harshit Rana for his expensive spell against Sri Lanka, in which he gave 54 runs in four overs while taking only one wicket. India, captained by Suryakumar Yadav, were given a stern test in their final group encounter before the Asia Cup 2025 final versus Pakistan.
The Men in Blue batted first and set the Lankan Lions a goal of 203 runs to chase. However, Pathum Nissanka’s amazing century sent the game into a Super Over. Rana was named to the playing XI in place of Jasprit Bumrah, who was rested ahead of the crucial final against Pakistan. However, Ashwin believes he failed to impress since his bowling appeared to be feeble.
He further claimed that Harshit Rana was playing cricket in a ‘amateurish’ manner.
“I just want to speak about Harshit Rana. He has played a few games. He hasn’t played a few games. It is not easy to play one match and then sit out. It could really flatten your confidence, and also make you a bit rusty. But the mistakes made by Harshit against Sri Lanka were really amateurish,” said Ashwin on his YouTube channel ‘Ash Ki Baat‘.
“I thought the game was done in the powerplay, but India made a stellar comeback after that. Harshit Rana was cranking up the speed. He hit him on the head, and then he followed it up with a slower ball. Nissanka played it beautifully. Rana was just bowling slower balls after delivering a fast-paced delivery. One fast, one slow, one fast, and one slow. That is a really amateurish way of playing cricket. He should really learn from this,” he added.
Meanwhile, BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla praised the Indian team for their strong showing in the ongoing T20 Asia Cup and expressed confidence that they would lift the title. He highlighted that the squad has a well-balanced combination and credited their unbeaten run in the tournament so far.
“Our team has performed brilliantly in the Asia Cup 2025. The team has a good combination. I am very confident that we will be the Asia Cup Champions and lift the Cup. Best wishes to Team India,” Shukla said as quoted by NDTV Sports.
India will now face arch-rivals Pakistan in the highly anticipated final, scheduled to be played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on September 28.
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