'Gautam Gambhir is not Harshit Rana's uncle': India head coach's former teammate brings in 'mama-chacha' angle

Mavinder Bisla defends Gautam Gambhir amid accusations regarding Harshit Rana's selection.

India head coach Gautam Gambhir has faced a steady chorus of accusations over the last few weeks, with a section of fans insisting that fast bowler Harshit Rana's inclusion in the national set-up is primarily due to their Kolkata Knight Riders connection.

Harshit Rana shouts an unsuccessful Leg-Before-Wicket appeal against Mitchell Marsh during the third one-day international. (AFP)

Now, one of Gambhir’s former KKR teammates has stepped in sharply. Ex-KKR wicket keeper-batter, Mavinder Bisla, has come out firmly in defence of both Gambhir and Rana, calling the criticism unfair and driven largely by tribal fan loyalties rather than cricketing logic.

Bisla tears into “bias” narrative

While speaking on the YouTube channel, Indian Cricket Canteen, Bisla directly addressed the narrative that Harshit Rana was in India’s ODI and T20I squads against Australia only because of his association with Gambhir at KKR. According to him, the backlash is coming from those who were never on board with KKR or Gambhir in the first place.

“The ones opposing Harshit Rana must be non-KKR fans. I am saying this honestly,” Bisla said, pointing out that social media has quickly linked Rana’s selection to Gambhir’s franchise background.

He rejected any notion that a personal relationship was driving the selection, stressing that Rana was being picked on merit, not proximity.

“Koi mama chacha ka rishta to hai nahi (Gambhir is not his uncle or something)”, Bisla added, dismissing suggestions of nepotism and saying people are simply projecting a “KKR angle” onto every decision involving the young pacer.

Manvinder Bisla’s defence is significant because it comes from someone who shared a dressing room with Gambhir during KKR’s title-winning run in 2012 and understands how he operates as a leader.

Harshit’s numbers vs Australia

Beyond the sentiment, Bisla anchored his argument in performance. As he highlighted, Harshit Rana was India’s leading wicket-taker in the ODI series against Australia, and then showcased his lower-order value with the bat in the T20Is, scoring 35 off 33 balls in the second T20I.

In the third ODI in Sydney, Rana produced a breakthrough spell, taking four wickets in a game ultimately remembered for the batting of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Bisla argues that while social media and influencers were busy celebrating “RoKo”, the impact of Rana’s spell on the result was largely overlooked.

On Indian Cricket Canteen, he underlined that Rana has effectively set up the match with the ball and suggested that very few people were interested in talking about him because such content would not fetch the same views as Rohit or Kohli.