Aggression is a unique part of sports and it is something that Kolkata Knight Riders’ uncapped pacer Harshit Rana will always use in his cricket career.
Harshit Rana, after winning the IPL 2024 edition last Sunday with KKR, spoke in depth about the one-match ban imposed on him during the league phases. Rana was punished by the IPL and BCCI authorities for his aggravated behavior after taking a wicket during Kolkata’s home match against Delhi Capitals.
The ban came weeks after Harshit Rana performed the Flying Kiss celebration for the first time in IPL 2024 during KKR’s opening match. Rana blew a kiss to Sunrisers Hyderabad’s first batsman Mayank Agarwal at the Eden Gardens stadium where the Purple and Gold army had won the game by 4 runs.
Why was Harshit Rana banned from a match?
As a consequence of his behavior, the BCCI would take away a small percentage of his fees from the KKR Vs SRH match and Harshit Rana was in control afterwards. However, during a reverse home match against Delhi Capitals at the same venue, he committed the same mistake again and this time the authorities did not forgive him.
In his first over, Harshit Rana had got 16 runs off Delhi’s top-order batsman Abishek Porel and the right-arm seamer was not happy with it. Upon his return, the New Delhi-based bowler bowled a length and line of stump that Porel tried to remove, but the The ball ended up going through the stumps.
After taking revenge on Porel, it was obvious that Harshit Rana would celebrate and he almost gave the former a flying kiss before walking away. Rana was halfway to firing Porel, but he took a step back when he remembered that they had taken his party money for the same reason.
But despite his decision not to attend the celebration, the IPL authorities decided to teach him a lesson and imposed a one-match suspension on him. Subsequently, Harshit Rana missed KKR’s next draw against Mumbai Indians.
Rana says this is how he plays cricket
While speaking to the Indian Express after winning the IPL 2024 final against SRH, Harshit Rana explained what he was thinking when the ban occurred. Rana claimed that this is how he has been playing cricket: with complete aggression and that he is a very serious guy when he is on the field.
Harshit Rana went full Gautam Gambhir mode when he said that he goes out in the middle to win instead of trying to make friends.
“This is my cricket. I have always played cricket like this. I am a fun-loving guy off the field, but on the cricket field I am not there to make friends, I want to win. Abhishek Porel hit me for 16 runs in my first over, in the next over, I took his wicket, the celebration was my redemption but I got banned.” – Rana told the Indian Express.