New Delhi [India], October 14 : India head coach Gautam Gambhir came out in defence of Harshit Rana, who has been exposed to heavy backlash in the aftermath of his selection for the three ODIs in Australia, scheduled to commence this Sunday.
Harshit has been classified by many as a favourite of Gambhir, which stems from the 23-year-old speedster's involvement across all formats. After chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced the contingent for India's white-ball tour of Australia last week, fans and former cricketers questioned Harshit's place in the 15-member squad for the ODI series.
Former captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth and decorated spinner Ravichandran Ashwin shared their thoughts on the 23-year-old's inclusion in the format, classifying it as "one permanent member in the team" and "questionable". Certain sections of fans questioned Harshit's inclusion over Mohammad Shami, who was the joint-highest wicket-taker for India during the unbeaten run to the Champions Trophy earlier this year.
After India swept the series against the West Indies, Gambhir didn't mince his words while addressing the criticism around Harshit. He put a tag of "shameful" on those who have targeted the 23-year-old while subtly taking a dig at Ashwin and Srikkanth for their remarks, urging them to refrain from commenting to get views on their YouTube channel.
"It's a little shameful that you are targeting a 23-year-old personally. Harshit's father is not an ex-chairman. It is not fair that you target an individual. You can target people's performance. And there are selectors and coaches who will target people's performance. But if you say such things to a 23-year-old kid, and then social media amplifies it even more, or you are told so many things on social media, imagine the mindset," Gambhir told reporters in the post-match press conference.
"What you say is just to run your YouTube channel. I think you've got, every one of us, not only me, you guys, everyone of us has moral responsibility towards Indian cricket. Indian cricket doesn't belong to me. It doesn't belong to the people sitting in that dressing room. It belongs to all of you as well. It belongs to every Indian who genuinely wants Indian cricket to do well. So you can criticise, but do it on performance. Don't do it because you want to target an individual," he added.
Harshit made his debut and has already amassed 10 international appearances across all formats since the start of Gambhir's era last year. While specifically looking at ODIs, Harshit has managed 10 wickets from five appearances at an average of 20.70.
"In the future, your child can also go and play cricket. Anyone's child can play. You can at least realise that he is a 23-year-old kid. He is not a 33-year-old kid. You can criticise me. I can still handle it. But a 23-year-old boy is a 23-year-old boy. So that is something which is not acceptable. I think that is why we need to be careful," Gambhir said.