India’s stylish opener Abhishek Sharma revealed that promoting Harshit Rana ahead of Shivam Dubey was the result of planning to set up a left-right combination during the second T20I against Australia in Melbourne. While many were surprised to see Harshit batting higher up the order, Abhishek remained unperturbed as he had an idea of Harshit’s batting ability thanks to his struggles in the nets. During India’s poor performance in the first innings after being put to bat, Abhishek (68) and Harshit (35) were the two anchors who kept the visitors in the contest.
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Australia’s lethal pace attack thrashed India, with Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Ellis dismantling the top order with ease. Abhishek told reporters in the post-match press conference that I knew Harshit could bat because he had hit me many sixes in the nets. So, I knew he could bat. But this was our plan. He came and told me that we should play normally. So, I think as a batsman, he was aware of the situation and knew that we had to play a little longer. But I felt that if Harshit continues to play, the right-left combination will be good. He came in before Shivam Dubey because we needed a right-left combination on the field, and he did well.
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Shortly after hitting a long six off Marcus Stoinis, Harshit was caught by Tim David off the bowling of Xavier Bartlett after scoring 35 (33) and the efforts to save the team failed. Another collapse ensued, and Abhishek, who had showcased his devastating strokeplay, was out to a thunderous yorker from Ellis in the penultimate over and India collapsed for 125. Thanks to Australian captain Mitchell Marsh’s 46 (26) runs, Australia achieved the target in 13.2 overs and paved the way for the host team’s victory by four wickets.