India assistant coach confirms Rana will not make debut in Mumbai Test, says "No additions to the squad"
Oct 30, 2024
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 30 : India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar on Wednesday confirmed uncapped bowler Harshit Rana will not be making debut in the upcoming third Test match against New Zealand and said that no additions have been made to the squad.
According to a report by ESPN on Tuesday, Harshit Rana was added to the India squad for the third Test match against New Zealand. However, India's assistant coach cleared the rumours ahead of the third Test.
Harsit Rana has been with India's white-ball teams ever since a breakout Indian Premier League (IPL) season in 2024 with champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), in which the pacer took 19 wickets at an average of 20.15 in 13 matches.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Nayar said that every week and day will be critical for them to reach the World Test Championship (WTC) final. He further added they are taking one game at a time in WTC.
"No additions to the squad. Every week is critical, every day is critical. We have not been narrow-minded in thinking about WTC final. We want to focus on this match," said Nayar.
New Zealand are currently leading the three-match series 2-0. The visitors won the first Test at Bengaluru by 8 wickets and won the second match by 113 runs which was played at Pune.
India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Dhruv Jurel, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.
New Zealand Squad: Tom Latham (C), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (WK), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William O'Rourke, Kane Williamson, Ish Sodhi, Mark Chapman, Jacob Duffy, Matt Henry.
