[Exclusive] How a "wrong turn" led Harsh Dubey to India A dressing room?

Harsh Dubey, the left-handed all-rounder hailing from Nagpur, has just received his maiden call-up for the India A squad, led by Abhimanyu Easwaran, that will be touring to the United Kingdom for three four-day fixtures against England Lions. This fruition for the 22-year-old comes after the record-breaking feat in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25, where his left-arm orthodox bowling bagged an astonishing tally of 69 wickets. Not just that, Dubey, who usually bats six or lower also scored crucial 476 runs in Vidarbha's triumphant season.

After Ranji, this comes as yet another taste of success for him, and probably the biggest one, which takes him another step closer to the dream international call-up. Another moment of happiness had struck Dubey's way ten days back when he was called up by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for the remainder of the season of the Indian Premier League. He is available for three of SRH's league stage fixtures, and despite his side being already eliminated from the Playoffs' race, a determined Dubey says he is not at all thinking about the England tour right now, since he has to sign off from the IPL first.

"As of now, I'm not thinking about the England tour because I have three matches of IPL ahead. My focus remains on performing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL currently," Harsh exclusively told CricTracker once the announcement was officially made by the BCCI.

Upon reaching out to the youngster further, a plethora of messages and a healthy crop of well-wishers had already tagged him on social media to forward their congratulatory regards. "Aaram se baat kartaa hoon. Abhi bahut messages hain (I'll catch up later, there's just too many messages I am yet to reply to)," followed up an ever-so-excited Dubey.

The all-rounder, who spent his early childhood in Mumbai, found his life taking a positive turn despite a wrong turn toward Vijay Book Depot. He and his father ended up at Ruby Club, where six-year-old Harsh watched budding talents practice on the maidaan. Intrigued, he was drawn to the beautiful sport and decided to pursue it professionally. The rest, as they say, is history—penned by Harsh himself.

Harsh trusts strongly in his process and leaves everything else to "God's Plan", and he would do the same upon touching down to the UK. He will also be having his Vidarbha teammate Karun Nair alongside, who too, has received a "second chance" from cricket, and would be desperate to make it count, once again.

India A squad for England tour, 2025

Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel (VC) (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan (WK), Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sarfaraz Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Harsh Dubey

Note: Shubman Gill and B Sai Sudharsan will join the squad ahead of the second match.