IPL 2023, KKR vs PBKS | Twitter mocks Harshit Rana's request being humiliatingly ignored by Nitish Rana

05/08/2023

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IPL has been a breeding ground for young domestic stars by offering them a platform to express their talents but often, rookies can be overwhelmed by the experience around them. Harshit Rana learnt his lesson on Monday after his plea to Nitish Rana to change the field fell on deaf ears.

Punjab Kings enjoyed a topsy-turvy innings against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens to eventually post a competitive target of 180 for the hosts. The side lost wickets at regular intervals throughout their 20 overs and at one stage seemed doomed to a sub-par total before the 20th over brought the game back to an even keel. The disaster in store for KKR in the last over was foreshadowed by a spat between skipper Nitish Rana and young pacer Harshit Rana in a rare on-field occurrence.

Right-arm quick Harshit was making his way to the bowling mark to begin the over while Nitish Rana instructed fielders around the ground. When the path of the two intersected, the captain apparently offered an explanation to the rookie pacer for his field setup. However, the bowler was clearly unconvinced by Nitish's plans and ventured a suggestion to the veteran. Surprisingly, Nitish chose to pay no heed to the youngster despite his impressive opening spell of 2-0-12-2, and simply ordered him to get prepared for his run-up. An insistent Harshit stopped in his tracks and reiterated his stance, only to be met with the same reaction albeit with greater intensity this time around. Evidently dismayed, Harshit continued to look at his skipper with hope, almost as if pleading with him, before continuing on his way with annoyance writ large on his face. The captain might have been in a rush to get the over started so as not to suffer fielding restrictions for slow over rate.

The Purple Army ended up conceding 21 runs in the over, on the back of two maximums and as many boundaries, making the Twitter go abuzz with reactions to the fiasco.

Sheer arrogance

— Washington Ydav (@WashingtonYdav)

Poor

Very very poor captaincy from Rana. Trusting Harshit and Vaibhav above Russell and Thakur at the death.
— AKSHAY (@akshay14793)

Power hitting

Gill 🤝 Srk

Bashed the Tf out of Harshit Rana
— naym 🇵🇸 (@GillSznn)

Need answers

Harshit ko last over kyu Diya jab Russel tha???? Rana pagal h kya
— Prags - 7thSept2023 : JAWAN (@prags_here)

Yup, seriously?

Fuck KKR's death bowling!

No Lord, No Russel, but Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana! Seriously?!
— Dharmin Doshi (@DharminD)

Perfect ICT player

I can't understand why this gem Harshit Rana has played so late.

Tall fast bowler with accurate length and line..

He can easily play for ICT T20

Pc : Tataipl
— Rajat Sehgal (@RajatSehgal94)

Absolutely smashed

Why didn't Russell bowl any death over,and these two mfs Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana getting smacked,Unreal bowling after Spinners did so well,Pathetic
— 2030 (@anshu_aggarwal9)

Not great