Harshit Rana has not played since July, and he is in India A’s squad for the Rising Stars Asia Cup in Doha
The BCCI has picked Harshit Rana in a 15-man India A squad for the Rising Stars Asia Cup, his first chance to bowl in a match since an injury-hit summer.
Nov 2, 2026
Tilak Varma will captain the side, and Rajat Patidar, who led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to the 2025 and 2026 IPL titles, is his deputy. The tournament runs from 19 to 29 November and, unlike last year’s T20 edition, it is a 50-over event this time.
Tilak arrives off the back of India’s 3-2 T20I series win in New Zealand. The more interesting name is further down the list.
Rana’s stop-start year
Rana is 24 and has barely bowled in 2026. He hurt his knee in a T20 World Cup warm-up against South Africa in Navi Mumbai in February, needed surgery, and missed both the World Cup and the IPL. He was back with India by June, but a right hamstring problem in the third T20I against England at Trent Bridge in July ended his tour. Then, on 7 September, he strained a thigh muscle bowling in a match simulation at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, which ruled him out of the Afghanistan T20Is and the Asian Games. He has not played since.
So Doha is a fitness test as much as anything. If he gets through a run of one-day games, the selectors get their answer on something Gautam Gambhir has been pushing since late 2025: Rana as a seamer who can also score runs at No. 8. Gambhir has called him a player India are developing for that role, and the 2027 ODI World Cup in southern Africa is where it would matter.
Prince Yadav, who replaced Rana in the England ODI squad in July, and Arshad Khan are the other seamers. Suryansh Shedge adds a bit of pace as an allrounder.
A 50-over squad full of T20 hitters
Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Rinku Singh and Prabhsimran Singh are all in. None of them is a regular in India’s ODI plans, and this looks like the board wanting to see how its best T20 batters cope when there are 50 overs to fill. Sooryavanshi has played only 13 List A games. One of them was the 190 off 84 balls he made for Bihar against Arunachal Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy last December.
The spinners come from both ends of the domestic game. Vipraj Nigam is a Delhi Capitals legspinner. Tanush Kotian, the Mumbai offspinner, took a career-best 8 for 81 against Haryana in the Ranji Trophy last week. Harsh Dubey was picked on the same day he took 9 for 53 for Vidarbha against Madhya Pradesh in Nagpur.
Pakistan A on 22 November
India A are in Group B with Pakistan A, the UAE and Nepal. Group A has Bangladesh A, Sri Lanka A, Afghanistan A and Hong Kong, China. The top two from each group reach the semi-finals on 26 and 27 November, and the final is on 29 November. India A meet Pakistan A on 22 November.
India A squad: Tilak Varma (captain), Rajat Patidar (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Prabhsimran Singh (wicketkeeper), Rinku Singh, Kumar Kushagra (wicketkeeper), Suryansh Shedge, Shahbaz Ahmed, Vipraj Nigam, Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Harshit Rana, Prince Yadav, Arshad Khan.