Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pacer Harshit Rana, 22, was at his aggressive best in the third match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) against the Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday, March 23.
Harshit Rana has improved his game a lot since the last season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and he was good with his lines and lengths in his team’s opening match in the current edition of the league.
After troubling SRH openers Mayank Agarwal and Abhishek Sharma with the new ball, he finally managed to get a wicket in the sixth over of the innings. In the third ball, he got rid of SRH senior opener Mayank Agarwal.
Harshit Rana bowled a 128.1 km/h bounce to Mayank Agarwal, who attempted a shot. The SRH opener was not in control when he played his shot and Rinku Singh caught it at backward square leg.
What caught the fans’ attention were the things that happened after the firing. The KKR bowler was excited and decided to give a heated farewell to the SRH batsman. Harshit Rana first gave Agarwal a flying kiss and then a death glare as he walked towards his teammates to celebrate the crucial wicket.
Mayank Agarwal was back in the dugout after contributing 32 runs off 21 balls with the bat. He also hit 4 fours and 1 six during his innings.
Watch: Harshit Rana gives a fiery farewell to Mayank Agarwal
Sealed with a kiss 🫣
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Many enjoyed the KKR youngster’s farewell, but Indian national cricket team’s legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar was not one of them. Speaking on air, the great batsman launched an attack on the pacer and said his act could have been avoided.
“I shouldn’t have done that. Did the batsman do anything to him when he hit sixes? Cricket can be played without these antics. It is the age of television. I understand that. Celebrate with your teammates, but there is no need for the opponent to do such antics.”
Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders posted a massive total of 208/7 on the board after being invited to bat first. Andre Russell smashed 64 runs off 25 balls, while Phil Salt scored 54 runs off 40 balls. Also, Rinku Singh and Ramandeep Singh scored 23 and 35 runs respectively.
Speaking during the mid-innings break, Phil Salt expressed his happiness with his team’s performance in the innings. He elaborated:
“It’s funny how this game works, I’m very happy to be with such an incredible franchise and I hope we get our first points tonight. It was a little sticky with the new ball, and as the ball ages it gets a little easier. The back (length) and top of the stumps are quite tricky and we hope our seamers can do something similar. “I’m happy to go there and perform for the team under pressure with such a big crowd here.”