Mayank Yadav or Harshit Rana - who should India pick for 1st IND vs BAN T20I 2024?
The whirlwind Test series between India and Bangladesh is done. But as the debate about Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's careers continues to rage on social media and the discussions about the conditions at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur go missing, we are ready to get into the T20I series between the two sides.
This has all the ingredients to be equally exciting, if not more. It's the first home T20I rubber since the T20 World Cup and the team selection from the BCCI is being seen as one of the best in a long time.
There are a lot of young players and enough opportunities too as most seniors have either retired recently or been rested. You can bet on all of them having a fire in their bellies to put up eye-catching performances that can solidify their place as future stars of Indian men's cricket in the format.
However, there's also scope for competition in the team and because all young players are equally promising, the Gautam Gambhir-led coaching department does have a few big choices to make. In this piece, we'd discuss who he can choose between Harshit Rana and Mayank Yadav for the second pacer's spot to partner Arshdeep Singh.
Gambhir is perhaps the best man to decide because both come from his city, Delhi, and he has observed them closely at Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders, respectively. Below, we discuss the factors he'd consider in favor of each pacer.
(Do note that there's a chance that both feature in the 11, although it would be a bit surprising)
Why Mayank Yadav should make his T20I debut
There aren't many players in the country who can get an international call-up based on four IPL matches and hardly any first-class experience. But Mayank Yadav made those four matches and six wickets count better than anyone else.
On IPL's placid pitches, he bowled 155kph+ rockets - a rare sight in Indian cricket - and did it with a consistency of length which is hardly ever seen at 22 years of age anywhere around the world. However, as many feared, injury issues derailed his season.
Now that he has regained fitness, the option to play him in the first match is quite tempting. That's because if India wants to have him in the picture for the Champions Trophy next year, the T20 World Cup the year after, or perhaps as a squad member for the Test tour of Australia, they'd need to start giving him games.
Many former fast bowlers often speak about how there's nothing like match fitness and that the best way to get a bowler in rhythm is through playing high-level games. And these T20Is have no value attached to points or an ICC title so experimentation can thrive.
Moreover, Harshit is much closer to India's call-ups in ODIs and Tests than Mayank. So the KKR pacer would probably get his chance even if he doesn't play in this rubber while Mayank would have to wait for another T20I series where these many seniors would be absent to get his moment in the sun.
Why Harshit Rana deserves a chance
On his part, Harshit would expect to make his debut in the first T20I too. This is not his first international call-up; he was part of a second-string Indian side's tour of Zimbabwe earlier in the year, putting him ahead in the pecking order.
Moreover, it isn't like he's a medium pacer. He, too, can touch 145kph with ease and is, luckily, more genetically athletic and fitter than Mayank. In IPL 2024, Harshit took 19 wickets in 11 innings at an average of 20.15 which was also unprecedented for an uncapped 22-year-old.
More than just his pace, his smarts in using his variations sets him apart from bowlers his age. Harshit has also been playing and performing well, regularly since the IPL, and recently featured in the Duleep Trophy with two four-wicket hauls in two games.
Harshit can also bat and has shown potential of being a bowling all-rounder in the coming years. Someone in Gambhir's camp can argue that putting these skills to the test is perhaps even more important than fielding a rare fast-bowling talent.
The argument can also be about whether it'd be right to play Mayank in the first match even though he hasn't had any game time since the IPL.
There shouldn't be any complaints from the management if they want to let the LSG pacer ease into the set-up in perhaps the third game after a good number of net sessions, where the coaches and the players can learn more about him.
For now, it seems like a 60-40 call, with the odds slightly tilted toward Harshit.