May 7 (Punjab Khabarnama) : Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Harshit Rana would think twice in matters related to BCCI now. The right-arm pacer, who was suspended for one match and fined 100 per cent match fees for the send-off he gave to Delhi Capitals batter Abishek Porel, has officially entered the once-bitten-twice-shy zone.
In a light-hearted conversation with KKR head coach Chandrakant Pandit, Rana was heard requesting his coach not to talk to BCCI about scheduling. The conversation took place inside a flight, which had to be diverted to Guwahati because of inclement weather in Kolkata.
The KKR team was returning from Lucknow, where they played against LSG and beat the hosts comfortably by 98 runs to rise to the top of the IPL 2024 points table on Sunday. The team was supposed to fly back to Kolkata on Monday evening, but KKR’s chartered flight had to be diverted to Guwahati due to heavy rains in the City of Joy.
The flight landed in Guwahati around 8:45 pm on Monday. It was around that time the conversation between Rana and Pandit took place where the player-coach duo were jokingly discussing having a practice session there and preponing their last league match against RR, which is scheduled in Guwahati on 19th of this month.
Harshit Rana: “Ek kaam karte hai, practice kar lete hai, ek session yaha kar lete hai (Let’s do one thing, keep a practice session here).”
Chandrakant Pandit: “Ek session yaha kar lete hai. Phir match bhi yahi khel lete hai. Ek last mein jo match hai hamara. (Yes, one session here and then we can also play our last league match here)
Harshit Rana: “19 ko match hai. Kal parso mein hi khelke khatam kar lete hai. Toh 19 ko nahi ana padega. “We have the match on 19th. Lets get it done with by tomorrow or day after so that we don’t have to come here again)
Chandrakant Pandit: “Main dekhta hu. Baat karni padegi BCCI ke saath. (Let me see, what I can do. Will have to talk to BCCI)”
Harshit Rana: “BCCI se toh baat karo hi mat (Don’t talk to BCCI).”
Rana, who was fined 60 per cent of his match fees for giving a flying-kiss send off to Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Mayank Agarwal in an earlier match, almost repeated the same offence when he knocked over Porel in their game against Delhi.
Rana was seen pointing his hand towards Porel, indicating him to go back to the pavilion and was about to give another flying kiss before he stopped short of doing that. He was also seen appealing excessively after hitting Rasikh Salam high on his pads.
It was deemed as a Level 1 offence and Rana was suspended for a match.
Rana has been in top form in this IPL. The right-arm pacer, with 14 strikes to his name, is KKR’s joint-highest wicket-taker, along with Sunil Narine.
Meanwhile, the KKR’s second attempt to land in Kolkata also failed. Their flight was diverted to Varanasi, where the team decided to stay. They are slated to land in Kolkata around 1:30 pm on Tuesday, provided the weather permits.