In his third season with Kolkata Knight Riders, Harshit Rana justified his selection on Saturday as KKR began their IPL 2024 campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The 22-year-old showcased his brilliance with a sensational delivery to remove SRH opener Mayank Agarwal.

Harshit Rana silences Mayank Agarwal

In the third delivery of the sixth over, Rana sent a bouncer which Mayank tried to pull, but could only direct it to the fielder at deep backward square leg for a catch. In jubilation, Rana gave a departing Mayank a flying kiss in celebration. In response, the India batter simply stared back at the bowler as he walked away. Mayank ended up registering 32 off 21 balls in SRH's 209-run chase.

Harshit's celebration wasn't well-received by Sunil Gavaskar. The India legend said, "He should not have done that. Did the batsman do anything to him when he was hitting him for sixes? Cricket can be played without these antics. It's the age of television. I understand that. Celebrate with your teammates but no need for such antics for the opposition."

Initially, SRH skipper Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to bowl. KKR had a shaky start in the first innings, losing wickets quickly. Despite opener Phil Salt being in good form, the wicketkeeper didn't receive support as SRH removed Sunil Narine (2), Venkatesh Iyer (7), Shreyas Iyer (0), Nitish Rana (9) with ease.

With KKR meandering at 51/4 in 7.3 overs, the arrival of Ramandeep Singh added some stability. Ramandeep smacked 35 runs off 17 balls. After Ramandeep's dismissal, Salt lost his wicket an over later, falling for 54 off 40 balls.

The responsibility to finish off the innings was left for Rinku Singh and Andre Russell, who led a late revival. Rinku managed to smack 23 off 15 balls, before losing his wicket in the final over. Meanwhile, Russell remained unbeaten with a knock of 64 runs off 25 balls, packed with three fours and seven sixes.

Speaking after the first innings, Salt said, "Funny how this game works, really happy to be with such an amazing franchise and hope we get our first points tonight. It was slightly sticky with the new ball, and when the ball becomes old it becomes slightly easier. Back (of a length) and top of the stumps is quite tricky, and hope our seamers can do something similar. I am just happy that I am going there and delivering for the team under pressure with such a huge crowd here."

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