Pacer Harshit Rana ended the India vs Australia ODI series with a bang as he scalped four for 39 in the third match of the contest in Sydney. Harshit’s performance came after his spot in the Indian team had been questioned by several experts, including former cricketers K. Srikkanth and Ravichandran Ashwin. However, the tall pacer produced a career-best performance to justify his selection. Former India captain Rohit Sharma, who scored 121* in the third ODI, had some special things to say about Rana.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t win the series, but it’s still a relatively young team. A lot of the guys haven’t been here or played white-ball cricket. So, we can take a lot of positives from here. Especially Harshit Rana, who’s playing white-ball cricket for the first time in Australia. The way he bowled in both games-Perth obviously was a shortened game-but looking at how he bowled in Adelaide and here (Sydney), it was a fantastic effort from him,” Rohit said after the third ODI.

In the third India vs Australia ODI, Australia were restricted to just 236 after Rana’s 4/39. During the chase, the spotlight shifted to the Rohit Sharma-Virat Kohli show, as the duo forged an unbeaten 168-run stand to help India reach the target in just 38.3 overs. Rohit Sharma smashed an unbeaten 121-his 33rd ODI century-while Kohli accompanied him with a sublime 74 not out.

Former India pacer Varun Aaron pointed out that Harshit had set up the match for Rohit and Kohli in the first innings itself, but went under the radar as fans were eager to see the two batters perform.

“First of all, his performance has gone completely under the radar because everybody wanted a RoKo show. They got a RoKo show, but the man who set it up for Rohit and Kohli was actually Harshit Rana. On a wicket that was not helpful for the bowlers, he bowled a very, very good spell,” said Aaron on Star Sports’ show Follow The Blues.

“We saw a lot of nuance from Harshit. He got the ball to go out. He bowled really good slower balls and then backed it up with very good line and length. Again, somebody who is learning. The team management has really backed him, and he is coming good,” he added.