Irfan Pathan, a former cricket player for India, has endorsed young bowler Harshit Rana's choice in India's starting lineup for the first T20I against Australia. On October 29, this game will take place in Canberra.

After making an impression with his all-around contributions, the former all-rounder thinks Rana deserves a shot. This came after Rana helped India put up a respectable score in Adelaide by scoring 24* in 18 balls in the second ODI. Then, as India held Australia to 239 runs in the third ODI in Sydney, Rana achieved his career-best bowling figures of 4/39.

Pathan believes Rana's exploits with the bat in the second ODI have helped his cause for inclusion in the T20I series. The former all-rounder emphasized that Rana's presence at No. 8 may give India an excellent balance by combining batting depth and multiple bowling options.

"Harshit Rana's cameo in the second ODI would have given the Indian team management a lot of confidence. So if he plays at No.8, India have their order till No.7 sorted, with two all-rounders in Dube and Axar, who can give you at least 6 overs. Then you can also play 2 pacers in Arshdeep and Jasprit, but who will that ne frontline spinner be?" Pathan said on his YouTube channel.

Irfan also picked Varun Chakaravarthy over Kuldeep Yadav as the frontline spinner in the XI, suggesting that the former's ability to bowl in the powerplay might give him the edge over the chinaman.

"I'm thinking towards Chakaravarthy because he can bowl a couple of overs in the powerplay as well, if needed. India also needs that bit of a mystery factor in their playing XI. But if the team management goes for Kuldeep, then it is also not a big problem," he added.

Irfan Pathan's India Playing XI:

Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson(w), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana.