Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar was not at all impressed with Harshit Rana's animated send off to Mayank Agarwal during the IPL 2024 match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Eden Gardens on Sunday (March 24).
During the sixth over of SRH’s innings, Harshit Rana dismissed Mayank Agarwal for 32 off 21 balls. After claiming the prized scalp, the right-arm pacer blew a flying kiss towards Agarwal.
The SRH opener was not one bit pleased with the send-off as he stared at Harshit Rana for a few seconds before making his way back to the pavilion.
Gavaskar, who was on air at the time, questioned the need for such aggressive body language while celebrating the wicket, adding it would be better for the young bowler if he learned to control his emotions.
"Couldn't see any of that earlier on when he was hitting you for boundaries. No need to do that Mr. Rana. It's just a wicket in cricket. The batter didn't do that to him when he was hitting boundaries," Gavaskar said.
"I know we are all in the television age. We need to be seen doing certain things. You can play cricket without doing that. By all means, celebrate. Celebrate with the team. But, there's no need to do that to an opposition player," he added.
The KKR pacer was handed out a strict penalty by the IPL for his conduct during the match as he was handed a fine of 60 percent of his match fee.
"Kolkata Knight Riders bowler Harshit Rana has been fined a total of 60 percent of his match fees for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during his team's Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on March 23.
"Rana committed two Level 1 offences under Article 2.5 of the IPL's Code of Conduct. He was fined 10 percent and 50 percent of his match fees for the two respective offences. Rana admitted to the two offences and accepted the Match Referee's sanction. For Level 1 breaches of the Code of Conduct, the Match Referee's decision is final and binding," the release from IPL read.
Coming to the match, Kolkata Knight Riders opened their IPL 2024 campaign with a nervy four-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Chasing 209 to win, the Sunrisers were struggling at 145/5 in the 17th over. However, Heinrich Klaasen produced a scintillating 25-ball half-century to keep SRH in the hunt. In fact, Klaasen and Shahbaz Ahmed smashed Mitchell Starc for 26 runs in the penultimate over to make the equation – 13 runs off 6 balls.
In the final over, Klaasen slammed Harshit Rana’s first delivery for a six but the KKR pacer bounced back from the second delivery onwards to take his team over the line.
Rana’s second delivery went for a single while he dismissed Shahbaz in the following ball. The fourth ball again went for a single and then he got the prized scalp of Klaasen (63 off 29 balls) in the penultimate delivery.
