Kolkata Knight Riders fast bowler Harshit Rana, on Thursday, brought out his old flying-kiss celebration during the 2024 Duleep Trophy match between India C and India D at the Rural Development Trust Stadium in Anantapur, despite being punished by the BCCI for a similar act during IPL 2024.

It happened in the final ball of the fifth over in the second innings of the Duleep Trophy match when Harshit dismissed India C captain Ruturaj Gaikwad for five off 19. The right-armer, who earned his maiden India call-up earlier this summer on the back of a phenomenal show in IPL 2024, found the outside edge with a length delivery just outside the off as Gaikwad nicked it straight to the Atharva Taide at second slip.

However, unlike the incident in IPL earlier this year, Harshit's celebration was not aimed at the batter, but rather at the dressing room.

What had happened in IPL 2024?

During the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens on March 23, Harshit blew a flying kiss at Mayank Agarwal after dismissing him. The act not only left Mayank infuriated as he made his way back to the pavilion, but former India captain Sunil Gavaskar criticised it on-air as well.

Later, the fast bowler was found guilty of committing ‘two Level 1 offences under Article 2.5 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct’ and was fined 10 per cent and 50 percent of his match fees for the two respective offences.

Almost a month later, Harshit was found guilty of a near similar act, leading to a stricter punishment from the BCCI. In the match against Delhi Capitals, he almost went for the same celebration against after dismissing Abhishek Porel, but stopped midway, before gesturing his hand towards the dugout. He was fined 100 per cent of his match fees and banned for a match for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct.

Over a week later, during KKR's flight to Guwahati for a match against Rajasthan Royals, former franchise captain Nitish Rana trolled Harshit asking, “Ek flying kiss ho jaye fir… (How about a flying kiss, then?).” The bowler sheepishly smiled and said no to it.

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