Gautam Gambhir's assistant coach hints at Harshit Rana debut in 3rd T20I against Bangladesh

If they do so, it would mark an international debut for the promising fast bowler Harshit Rana. The 22-year-old made a name for himself during the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL), where he played a crucial role in Kolkata Knight Riders' victorious campaign. India's assistant coach, Ryan ten Doeschate, has hinted at the possibility of rotating the squad for the upcoming third T20I, giving some of the benched players a chance to showcase their talent on the international stage.

"Obviously, there's nice depth in the squad, and a lot of guys have got IPL experience. We try to expose as many guys as we can to international experience with what we've got coming up. So someone like Harshit Rana we're keen to give a game to. Obviously, Tilak (Varma) came into the squad a bit later," he said in the pre-match press conference on the eve of the final T20I in Hyderabad.

Ten Doeschate also indicated that India may give Sanju Samson one more game even with Jitesh Sharma on the bench. Samson has opened the innings in the series with Abhishek Sharma. "Jitesh is there as well, but we want to give Sanju another chance. So there are options, and certainly the plan originally was to win the series, get the series won and then try a few new faces for the last game," said the former Netherlands all-rounder.

Despite all these considerations for accomodating players in the side, Ten Doeschate says that the primary goal is to win the match and complete a 5-0 clean sweep over Bangladesh. India had won the preceding two-match Test series 2-0 and are now looking to win the T20I series 3-0. “The messaging from Gauti (Gambhir), the importance of each game playing for your country and also putting yourself under pressure every time, so there's absolutely no talk about not putting that as the focus for tomorrow. We want to win and complete the 5-0 (2-0 in Tests, and 3-0 in T20Is) series,” he added.