BGT 2024-25: [Watch] Harshit Rana castles Travis Head to claim maiden test wicket

Harshit Rana made his test debut in Perth in the first test against Australia.

Maiden test wickets don’t get more memorable than Harshit Rana’s jaffa of a delivery to clean up Travis Head in the first test of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 series.

The highly-anticipated BGT 2024-25 got underway on Friday at the Optus Stadium in Perth. And what a compelling day of test cricket it was as 17 wickets fell in the day. India were bundled out for a cheap total of 150 after stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah won the toss and opted to bat first.

But the bowlers, led by a four-for from the captain himself, delivered a sensational riposte to have Australia seven wickets down for 67 runs.

India handed debut caps to two players: pacer Harshit Rana and all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Both the debutants had their moments today. Reddy top-scored in the Indian innings with 41 runs, while Rana castled Head, India’s nemesis since last year, for 11 runs.

Rana went around the wicket to the left-handed Head. He bowled a length delivery angled into the batsman, pitching on the off-stump. Head played for the angle but the ball nipped away just a little after pitching, beat the outside edge of Head’s defensive shot and crashed into the top of the off-stump.

Rana went on a fiery celebration as the Indians celebrated in the field, in the stands, and back at home as Head was a huge wicket for them, especially in the context of this low-scoring game.

Watch: Harshit Rana cleans up Travis Head with a peach

At stumps on day 1, Australia are trailing by 83 runs and have three wickets in hand.

Teams:

Australia (Playing XI): Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

India (Playing XI): KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah(c), Mohammed Siraj

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