IND vs BAN 2024: Why is Arshdeep Singh not playing the third T20I?

The third game between India and Bangladesh at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad commenced on October 12, 2024.

With the hosts going unchanged in the first two games in Gwalior and Chennai, there were quite some changes expected from the end of the Indian unit as far as their playing XI is concerned. With the likes of Jitesh Sharma, Tilak Varma, Ravi Bishnoi, and Harshit Rana all having warmed the bench in the series so far, it was expected that Gautam Gambhir & Co. may even go ahead with making as many as four changes to the XI.

India captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and opted to bat first. After explaining his choice for the same, as well as wishing the broadcasters and the spectators a happy Dussehra, he opened up on the changes made in the Playing XI from their last two games.

“Looks a good wicket, and we said last game we wanted to bat first. Want to set a target and defend. Happy Dussehra everyone and good to see everyone at the ground even though we are 2-0 up. It's important to follow the good habits, sometimes you can get complacent after winning the series. We just want to give a lot of freedom to the person coming into bat despite the game situation,” stated Suryakumar at the toss.

India went ahead with one change. In an unprecedented move, Ravi Bishnoi was declared to be replacing Arshdeep Singh. Bishnoi, who played the entire series when India had toured Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka and had done considerably well too, was given the go-ahead instead of Harshit Rana, who was expected to have made his debut in Hyderabad ahead of the game.

The joint-leading wicket-taker of the T20 World Cup 2024 played all the three games of the concluded Duleep Trophy for India D as well as the first two T20Is, picking up four wickets in the series. The decision to rest Arshdeep is assumed to have stemmed from managing his workload for the future.

Playing XIs

India: Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Nitish Reddy, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav

Bangladesh: Parvez Hossain Emon, Litton Das (wicketkeeper), Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Tanzid Hasan, Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Tanzim Hasan Sakib

Harshit Rana unavailable for selection for third T20I

In a recent notification by the Board of Control for Cricket in India themselves, it has been revealed that the sole reason for the Delhi-born Harshit Rana to miss out from debuting was due to him being down with a viral infection. 

UPDATE: Mr. Harshit Rana was unavailable for selection for the third T20I due to a viral infection and did not travel with the team to the stadium.#TeamIndia | #INDvBAN | @IDFCFIRSTBank

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 12, 2024

This further implies that with there being no international games up until October 31, 2024, and with India most probably not wanting to tinker with their original bowling attack, Rana will be treated as an uncapped player with there being an enhanced probability of him being retained by the Kolkata Knight Riders.