Dubey also spoke about valuable advice he received from Virat Kohli before England tour
Recently Ravichandran Ashwin had described receiving a Test cap as a ‘Penance’ – the culmination of spending countless hours practicing and giving years to the grind of First-Class cricket. Ashwin’s protege Harsh Dubey has done his penance with both the bat and the ball for four seasons – broke the record for most wickets in a single Ranji season with 69 in the 2024-25 season, lifted the Ranji Trophy with Vidarbha and almost took them to the Vijay Hazare Trophy win.
During the course of the season, he took on the likes of Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj and sent them over the ropes with disdain.
All this culminated in him getting his first call-up for an overseas tour with India A. He played in the first game at Canterbury and got 32 runs with the bat in which India A posted 557. The left-arm spinner returned figures of 1-129.
MAL
144/3
HKG
140/10
SGP
133/7
SAM
132/6
Singapore beat Samoa by 3 wickets
HKG
–
SAM
–
SGP
–
MAL
–
WI
–
AUS
–
RWA
90/4
ML
134/5
BHN
–
RWA
–
ML
–
RWA
–
BHN
–
ML
–
GLO
–
LAN
–
DIF-W
38/0
STO-W
37/4
Djurgardens IF Women beat Stockholm CC Women by 10 wickets
ALZ-W
89/5
DIF-W
95/4
Djurgardens IF Women beat Alby Zalmi Women by 6 runs
STO-W
5/0
ALZ-W
–
DIF-W
–
STO-W
–
ALZ
–
HDN
–
JIHCC
–
MAR
–
HDN
–
ALZ
–
HDN
–
JIHCC
–
MAR
–
ALZ
–
91YC
35/5
NVR
62/4
Navarang Club beat 91 Yards Club by 27 runs
BCC
147/8
CCC
51/1
TBC
–
TBC
–
TBC
–
TBC
–
EWW-W
–
MZW-W
–
MWW-W
–
LSN-W
–
BOT-W
–
SLO-W
–
RWA-W
–
CW-W
–
ENG-W
–
IND-W
–
ENG
–
IND
–
RLC
–
KRMPS
–
MECS
–
CHK
–
FLI
–
MIB
–
CAT
–
CBS
–
GCF
–
BRT
–
CAT
–
MIB
–
VEV
–
BRT
–
CBS
–
FLI
–
TBC
–
TBC
–
TBC
–
TBC
–
BAN
–
PAK
–
KNY
36/5
NBA
113/8
UGA
–
NIG
–
UAE
–
KNY
–
UGAA
–
NBA
–
OAW
–
MMS
216/5
KAK
–
VMK
–
BAD
192/5
SGT
180/9
Band-e-Amir Dragons beat Speen Ghar Tigers by 12 runs
ASS
85/2
MAK
–
EDC
–
WIC
–
IAC
–
SAC
–
AAC
–
WIC
–
NZ
–
SA
–
IRE-W
–
ZIM-W
–
IRE-W
–
ZIM-W
–
Just a week before travelling to the UK, Dubey was nervously picking Virat Kohli’s brain after he had claimed the former Test captain’s wicket in the IPL 2025 clash between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. His IPL call-up from SRH came as a surprise, as Dubey was the injury replacement for Smaran Ravichandran who was the replacement for injured Adam Zampa.
After rollercoaster three months, which he describes as ‘destiny’, Dubey has a chat with Cricxtasy about his ever-present love for Test cricket, his distaste for comparisons and his career’s ‘greatest moment.’
It was all about destiny. For the last few years I was doing well but didn’t get many opportunities to play the entire season. Even last season (2023-24), I played a couple of games at the beginning, got a four-wicket haul in the quarterfinal, but then didn’t get a chance to play in the semifinal. I was thinking of a lot of different things before this season, but luckily I was told that I will playing the full season this time. It all fell into place and everything has been great. I talk about destiny because (Adam) Zampa got injured at SRH then his replacement Smaran (Ravichandran) also got injured which got me the chance to play in the IPL. Smaran is a very good friend of mine, I didn’t know what to say to him when I got selected as his replacement (laughs).
Before the tournament, I had played a couple of practice games for Rajasthan Royals and they were ready to pick me as a net bowler, but I didn’t take the offer. I wasn’t expecting to get picked. I went for the mid-season trials for SRH and they told me that they’ll let me know. I was in Nagpur, relaxing after a long season when I got the call. It didn’t hit me until I reached the ground. Every year I would think, ‘This year, I might play in the IPL’ but it wouldn’t happen. But here I was, actually about to realise that dream and it wasn’t sinking in.
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Fortunately for me, the IPL suspension helped. I think it was around a week or so which helped me to work on my skills and focus on my recovery to be ready for the IPL.
Their presence makes a whole lot of difference. Honestly, when you see someone like Pat Cummins, who is a really cool guy, you feel relaxed and motivated. When I got there, he didn’t talk to me about cricket; it was mostly about if I was feeling good and ready. Travis Head isn’t much of a talker and Klaasen is a kind of guy who makes his point in very few words. They are professionals through and through, which is the inspiration you want when you play at the level.
Not really, because he was busy with TNPL as soon as the IPL got over. It was all chaotic because my selection happened during the IPL and my first game for India A was just a week after my last IPL match against KKR (May 25). I have clarified all of my doubts with Sai sir (Sairaj Bahuthule) because he has all the experience coaching teams at the NCA. The best advice I got was from Virat Kohli after playing the biggest match of my life (vs RCB on May 23).
I asked him about what batting in England is like and what adjustments I should make. I was very nervous to ask but he was very happy to answer my questions. He told me that I won’t be getting any runs trying to score in the ‘V’ but should try to play square of the wicket instead and look at how KL Rahul plays. He asked me to make use of angles while bowling. But honestly, I was still overwhelmed that I got his wicket in that match. It’s something that I will cherish forever.
Tests any day. Even if you give me a 30-year IPL contract I will choose a Test career over that. From childhood, I have played most of my cricket with the red ball. I feel red-ball cricket teaches you the basics and if your basics are strong, you can excel in any format. I feel hitting a six is an extension of a good defence. In white-ball cricket, you know that the batters are going to attack you all the time. But for Test cricket, there are a lot of things you need to develop — mentally, physically and skill-wise.
For me, switching from red-ball to white-ball is easy but the vice-versa is difficult. You need to make mental changes like defending the ball or bowling constantly in the same spot over after over. Now that it has been 3-4 years, I’m getting used to it. I feel you will not be perfect at it ever, but you get used.
I have stopped comparing myself with others who have the same skills as me. If I do that I pile unnecessary pressure on myself. After the end of every season and before the beginning of the new season, I take out a chart of my own mistakes I had prepared during the previous season and work to rectify them. I just want to be a better player than my last-season self. The point about playing for India, like I said – it’s only a matter of destiny. The only question I would ask myself is ‘Did you put in all the efforts and checked all the boxes to play for India?’ If that answer is ‘Yes,’ then I would leave it for god to decide.
I have started training for Duleep Trophy and the Irani Trophy. Its monsoon, so its personal training so far and skills training will begin soon.
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