BGT 2024-25: [Watch] Harshit Rana castles Travis Head to claim maiden test wicket
(Courtesy : Twitter/Screengrab)
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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