The young Indian pace bowler Harshit Rana held onto his nerves to defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad in a high-scoring thriller played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on 23rd March 2024. Rana was superb with his line and lengths with the new ball. He got the early breakthrough dismissing Mayank Agarwal ending 60 runs opening partnership.
Sunil Narine and other KKR bowlers stifled the SRH batters which left SRH to do a lot of catch-up in the final 4 overs. Klassen showed his brutal hitting along with Shahbaz Ahmed in the 18th over and 19th over. Both SRH players smashed Varun Chakravarthy and Starc with some lusty blows that made equation 13 runs in the final over.
Shreyas Iyer gave the responsibility to Harshit Rana in the final over. Rana was smashed for a six by Klassen off the very first delivery. He then dismissed Shahbaz Ahmed providing simple catch to long-on. After giving away a single, Rana deceived Klassen with a slower one with a stunning catch by Suyash Sharma at short third man.
Rana held onto his nerves to deceive Pat Cummins with a slower one and delivered a dot ball to help Kolkata Knight Riders win the match by just 4 runs. It was a superb bowling effort by Rana who was retained by the KKR franchise this year after some impressive performances in IPL 2023.
The jam-packed crowd jumped in joy as Rana was the star of the show picking 3 for 33 in 4 overs and picking up important wickets to help Kolkata Knight Riders start their 2024 journey on a winning note. Andre Russell was the star of the show with brutal 64 helping the Kolkata Knight Riders to post 209 for 7 in 20 overs.
“My heartbeat was very fast because there were a lot of expectations of the fans but not too many runs to defend,” Harshit Rana said after the match in an IPL video. “I knew, either the match would get over on that ball or if my plan was successful, the match would go deep,” he added.
“His body language was on point in that last over,” Russell said about Harshit. “He wanted the ball, and that is the body language we all need as professionals. If he was shying away from it, maybe it would have gone away. He told me that he wanted the last over, he claimed it, and delivered for us. With the first ball going for six, [you can] still have a little doubt there, but he came back strong and got the job done.”
The match looked in the grasp of Kolkata Knight Riders, but Klassen showed his brutal power hitting which made the match look close. Rana held onto his nerves to help KKR steal a great win.
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