How a hammer thrower showed patience to help son Harshit Rana live his dream

In October, 2020, when the cricketing world was emerging from Covid with the Indian Premier League moving to the UAE, pace bowler Harshit Rana, who removed India cricket team’s nemesis Travis Head on Day 1 of the first Test at Perth on Friday, was struck down by injury.

He had already lost a year of under-19 due to Covid and was about to miss another cricket season due to injury.

In the words of physiotherapist Saif Naqvi, who treated him, “he was desperate to get back to bowling as soon as possible”.

But Harshit Rana’s father Pardeep Rana, who worked with CRPF, and was a hammer thrower, having won a silver medal at under-22 level at nationals in 1993-94, was patient.

“His father was patient and helpful, and asked us not to rush. Harshit wanted quick recovery, but father was adamant. He came to us and told us to make him recover well,” says Naqvi to www.thedelhijunction.com

So, there began Harshit’s journey back to fitness. Everyday he would drive or be driven by his father 40 km from Ghevra, a village in North West district of Delhi, to Naqvi’s clinic in Gurugram.

“His road to recovery began in October, 2020 and was completed by October, 2021,” recalls father Pardeep, who was also a weightlifter and won a bronze in Indian Police Games in 1996.

Pardeep has been inundated with congratulatory messages on Friday after he removed Australian batsman Head on Test debut but he wants to wait for celebrations till the end of the match.

Naqvi talks about the injury.

“He was suffering from stress fracture in lumbar spine. He was representing Delhi in under-19 but wasn’t a regular. It took six months for us to make him recover,” says Naqvi who has treated the who’s who of cricketing world including Sachin Tendulkar.

R Ashwin (left) hands the Test cap to Harshit Rana

“We talked to coaches among others, had therapists working for him. We guided him on his action. Every athlete suffers due to load on one side. It cracks due to overloading. We had to work on the weak muscle group, improvise his posture, and improve the biomechanics of his bowling action.”

Naqvi says it took them six months to get Rana back in action.

By October 2021, he was back in full flight.

He attended Delhi under-23 trials and made the team. He then went to Gujarat Giants as a net bowler in 2022 before Gautam Gambhir called him up to Kolkata Knight Riders.

“He had been bowling 137 kmph at the under-19 level. He went back, and in IPL he bowled at 147 kmph. Once he was able to make his mark, bowling quick, everything came together,” adds Naqvi. 

Harshit’s initiation into cricket was a two-month dalliance when he was 10.

“When he told me that he wants to play cricket again, I told him that if you really want to play, take it seriously this time,” says Pardeep to www.thedelhijunction.com 

It helped that the Ganga International School where Shravan Kumar was coach was just across the road from his village.

Kumar has also groomed India pace bowler Ishant Sharma.

“Harshit Rana came to me when he was in sixth or seventh. I was a coach there, so he joined my classes. He was fat and chubby. He had pace. We knew he’d become tall and strong. He used to bowl continuously. My idea was that only if you bowl for 3-4 hours, you are worth being called a bowler,” says Shravan Kumar, who coached him for 10 years.

The school offers an advantage to players as it allows them to play friendly matches on weekends since it doesn’t rent out its field to corporates like other institutions do. Harshit Rana and other players got plenty of match practice thanks to that.

“Prior to 2023 and 2024, he was with me.”

While coach Kumar honed his skills, father Pardeep ensured top level fitness. 

“I used to make him do fitness in the morning when he started playing cricket seriously at the age of 11. I would make him run, sprint, and do exercise.”

The results showed.

Pardeep recalls two performances that stood out and convinced him that he had the material to become a cricketer. Once at Harcourt Butler School, he took six wickets at the under-14 level and then at another venue, Jesus and Mary College, he scored a 50 at the same age group.

“But honestly, once he picked cricket and began playing it, there was no going back. We had thought of nothing else as a career for him,” says the father who also has a daughter, older to Harshit, and works in the banking industry. 

Tags : Harshit Rana, Indian cricket team, Travis Head, Perth, Australian cricket team, First Test, IPL