“Trolling a 23-year-old kid for YouTube views is shameful” - Gautam Gambhir slams Kris Srikkanth for criticizing Harshit Rana

Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir has lashed out at former Indian cricketer Kris Srikkanth, who criticized the 23-year-old pacer Harshit Rana for being part of the Indian squads across formats despite underperforming. 

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Gambhir came out strongly against Srikkanth and social media trolls for their harsh criticism of him. He also added that Harshit played cricket on his own merit, and his father isn’t a selector. 

"It's shameful that someone wanting to run his YouTube channel is targeting a 23-year-old. If you want to target me, do it. I can handle it, but trolling a 23-year-old kid for YouTube views is shameful," said Gambhir in the press conference.

"His (Rana's) father is not a selector. He has played cricket on his own merit. Don't target these young boys," he added.

For the unversed, Srikkanth had stated on his YouTube channel that nobody knows why Rana is part of the national team. Furthermore, the former cricketer also added that Rana has been a yes man to Gambhir, which was the reason behind his constant selection. 

"There is only one member, Harshit Rana...nobody knows why he is there in the team. Best is to be like Harshit Rana and be a constant yes man to Gambhir to be selected (in the side)," Srikkanth had said on his YouTube channel recently. 

Harshit Rana has played two Tests, five ODIs, and three T20Is, and he was recently part of the Asia Cup 2025 campaign that India won. The three-match ODI series against Australia starts on October 19.

India’s ODI squad: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.

India’s T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.

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