Harshit has the pace and is naturally an enforcer with a knack for picking wickets, making him a better option than Arshdeep to complement spinners.
India are playing Mohammed Shami and Harshit Rana as specialist pacers for the Bangladesh clash in the Champions Trophy 2025. They have dropped Arshdeep Singh, who featured in the final ODI against England in Ahmedabad.
Ensuring middle-over stability might be the main reason behind his omission. Hardik Pandya can share the new ball with Mohammed Shami, allowing India to use Harshit in the middle overs when the ball softens.
Harshit has the pace and is naturally an enforcer with a knack for picking wickets, making him a better option than Arshdeep to complement spinners. During the ODI series against England, Rana picked four wickets at 12.50 runs apiece and conceded only 4.54 runs per over in the middle overs.
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Meanwhile, Arshdeep’s best value comes with the new ball, but that would have left the middle overs slightly weak. While the spinners can do the job, India would still want a speedster who can crank it up and push batters off the backfoot, and Rana specialises in this department.
Hardik Pandya has done the role of operating with the new ball, as he can pitch the ball up and extract anything in the air. He knows how to move the new cherry and has more chances of taking wickets than Harshit.
Harshit bowled eight overs in the powerplay in the England series but conceded 9.37 runs per over, suggesting he might not be suited to take the new ball. His natural lengths are slightly short, which won’t work with the new ball since speedsters need to bowl fuller lengths to draw false shots.
In short, India can replace Arshdeep Singh with Hardik Pandya as a new-ball bowler but can’t get the same value Harshit provides in the middle overs. Hence, it’s wise to bench Arshdeep rather than drop Harshit.
India’s bowling attack looks more complete, with as many as six solid bowling options for Rohit Sharma to work and rotate. They get these many bowling choices while having equal depth in the batting department.
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