The battle for the spot of a fast-bowling all-rounder for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is heating up. Two contenders that are in fray to make it to India’s XI in IND vs AUS Test series are Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy. Both the Indian cricketers have tasted success in the red-ball format over the past few months, making them viable candidates to serve as a pacer-all-rounder in the upcoming series against Australia.
Nitish Reddy vs Harshit Rana: Comparison ahead of IND vs AUS Tests
Nitish Kumar Reddy has a better experience in first-class cricket compared to Harshit Rana. The Andhra Pradesh all-rounder has featured in 21 first-class matches as compared to the Delhi pacer’s 10 innings. Yet, Nitish emerges as the better among the two, with 708 runs and 55 wickets to his name. Rana, on the other hand, has 469 runs and 43 wickets from just 10 matches.
Harshit Rana recently scored a half-century in the Ranji Trophy game against Assam, his last assignment before the Australia A series. He took a five-wicket haul in the game which was preceded by two four-wicket hauls in the Duleep Trophy. The all-round performance makes him one of the perfect candidates for India’s XI in the IND vs AUS Tests.
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Nitish Kumar Reddy has been less consistent with both bat and the ball but has proved to be effective so far. A 74-run knock from the Andhra all-rounder in the T20I against BAN announced his arrival in the T20I arena in style. While he has been fast-tracked to Tests by being named a part of the squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, So far, Nitish Reddy has managed to grab just one wicket while scoring 17 runs in the unofficial Test against Australia A.
India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy:
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed
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