For one, it has all of Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh available and in the squad. Apart from Mohammed Siraj, that’s India’s five leading pacers in this format right now. Assuming it’s going to be 15-man World Cup, at least one of the above-mentioned four will miss the bus.
In a series without Bumrah and sans Siraj, all of Krishna, Singh and Rana can show what they can do. Rana, who took the new ball at Ranchi, kind of did with an opening burst as he moved the ball both ways. He also cranked up the pace beyond the 140 kph mark in his opening spell. He can be a bit wayward at times but the management likes him. Of course, there’s no guarantee that the current management will stay on till that World Cup but right now, Rana is more in than out. He also provides some significant lower order muscle in a team that’s so sorely lacking in this department.
“With the new ball, I am practicing a lot with Morne (Morkel) and I keep talking to Arshdeep a lot,” he said on Tuesday. “I feel that Arshdeep has a lot of experience and he keeps helping and guiding me during practice.” With that new ball on Sunday, he removed both Ryan Rickelton and Quinton de Kock because of movement, always a handy currency to have up top.
