‘Are you serious?’: Former India wicketkeeper hits out at Gautam Gambhir, team management over Harshit Rana’s call

Gautam Gambhir and Harshit Rana (Image Agency) Former India batsman Dinesh Karthik questioned the leadership of the Gautam Gambhir-led team after pacer Harshit Rana was promoted ahead of Shivam Dube during India’s disastrous batting collapse in the third T20I against England at Trent Bridge. India’s chase of 202 unraveled quickly after Axar Patel was dismissed off the last ball of the fifth over, leaving the visitors at 52/5. Instead of sending Dube, the team management decided to promote Harshit Rana, a move that stunned Karthik in the comments. “Are you serious? Harshit Rana ahead of Shivam Dube? You can’t be serious,” Karthik said on air. Dube finally got to the crease two overs later but failed to save the innings, scoring just two runs off four deliveries before being dismissed by Josh Tongue. Karthik admitted that he did not understand the decision to delay Dube’s arrival, suggesting that it raised questions about the team’s confidence in the all-rounder. “Do they (team management) not trust Dube enough to send him at this stage? Instead they promoted Harshit Rana ahead of him. I’m not sure if that’s the right way to go about it,” he added. The selection call came during one of India’s worst batting performances in the format. England piled up 201/7 after Phil Salt led the way with a blistering 70 off 44 balls, while Sam Curran chipped in with 41 off just 24 deliveries on the tough Trent Bridge surface. In reply, India never gained momentum despite Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hitting two first sixes in his 13 balls off five. The visitors slumped from 23/0 to 76 in just 11.4 overs, with Josh Tongue taking 4/28 and Jofra Archer 3/29. The 125-run defeat was India’s most by runs in T20 Internationals and surpassed their previous heaviest loss of 80 runs against New Zealand in 2019. It also marks India’s second-lowest overall total in the format. The defeat gave England a 2-0 lead in the five-match series after the opening match was washed out. India have now lost their last four completed T20Is after a 2-0 series defeat in Ireland. After the match, captain Shreyas Iyer described the performance as “appalling” and admitted that his side needed to “completely go back to the drawing board”. England captain Harry Brook praised his side’s all-round representation, saying: “We adapted well to the bat. To carry it over to the bowling was amazing.” India now need to win the remaining two matches to avoid losing the T20I series.