North Zone are in a commanding position in the ongoing Duleep Trophy match against North-East Zone. Chasing an improbable target of 666 runs, North-East Zone have found themselves in trouble at 58/3 and it is only a matter of time before North Zone seals the game on the fourth day. Apart from a host of top performers, Harshit Rana who played for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2023, has also shined for North Zone in this game.
He is a designated bowler but the 21-year-old smashed his maiden first-class century in the first innings with the bat. Rana scored an unbeaten 122 off just 86 balls with 12 fours and 9 sixes to his name while batting at number nine. He has also picked up two wickets in the match so far and will be aiming to add more to his tally. Meanwhile, speaking about his aggressive knock, Rana stated that it is his natural game and he likes to play his shots.
"Yes! It is my natural game. I have played the whole Ranji season (2022-23) like that. I keep focus on my game. It is not to say that the match situation does not matter but my game plan is to go for my shots if the ball is in my hitting area. My coaches from the club level have always told me that I can bat," he said.
Harshit Rana is primarily a bowler and has the ability to crank up the pace up to 140 kmph and showed the glimpse of the same in IPL this season as well. Opening up on his stint with KKR in the cash-rich league, Rana said that the coaches' advice helped a lot in improving his bowling.
"I have benefitted a lot from the coaching of (Bharat) Arun sir and (Omkar) Salvi sir. They always give me a lot of advice, not just about cricket but about life as well. They treat me as their son. Nitish bhai has supported me a lot. If he has not done that then I would not have got this chance to play for KKR. I can say that my career has taken off because of Nitish bhai," Harshit added.
