'Gautam Gambhir Is Right': BCCI VP Rajeev Shukla Defends India Head Coach Over Harshit Rana's Selection For IND vs AUS Series

After their 2-0 triumph in the two-match Test series against West Indies, India will jet off to Australia to play eight white-ball matches. India will play 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is against Australia. The India vs Australia ODI series is also being talked about and has garnered a lot of eyeballs due to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's retirement.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently announced Shubman Gill as India's new ODI skipper. This decision did not sit well with many cricket fans and experts, but it was Harshit Rana's inclusion in the side that rubbed admirers of the Indian team in a very wrong way.

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Rajeev Shukla Defends Gautam Gambhir

Young seamer Harshit Rana faced a lot of backlash after being picked in India's T20I and ODI side that will lock horns with Australia. There is a popular theory doing the rounds that since Harshit Rana shared the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) dressing room with Gautam Gambhir, he is one of the favourites of the coach, but BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla has rubbished these claims and has said that words like these can bring the morale of a player down.

"Gautam Gambhir is right. If someone has any complaints about the players, then it should be done responsibly. This will bring the players' morale down. It is the job of the team to select players. So, before you say anything about the players, you should think about how much responsibility you should take," said the BCCI VP.

The Indian Head Coach also defended Rana's inclusion in the Indian T20I and ODI squad. He also termed the criticism around the 23-year-old bowler as shameful and urged people to refrain from using Rana's name to get views on their YouTube channel.

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Team India's Unbeaten Streak in 2025

The 'Men in Blue' are currently unbeaten in the ODIs in 2025. India, who won the Champions Trophy unbeaten earlier this year, have played a total of 8 ODIs (3 against England and 5 in the Champions Trophy) this year, and they are yet to lose their first fifty-over game in the ongoing calendar year.