After clinching their third IPL title, Kolkata Knight Riders’ owner Shah Rukh Khan encouraged the team to replicate star player Harshit Rana’s celebratory flying kiss gesture. The Knight Riders’ triumphant campaign culminated in an 8-wicket victory over Pat Cummins’ Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final, played on May 26th at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Harshit’s celebratory antics during KKR’s match against SRH in March landed him in trouble. After dismissing Mayank Agarwal at Eden Gardens, Harshit gave the batsman a flying kiss send-off, violating the IPL’s Code of Conduct. As a result, he was fined 60% of his match fee.
In April, Rana celebrated aggressively after dismissing Abhishek Porel of DC in Kolkata. As a result, he was banned for one match and fined 100 percent of his match fees. Despite the disciplinary action, Rana had an impressive season with KKR, finishing as the joint-highest wicket-taker for the franchise.
He claimed 19 wickets at an economy rate of 9.08 in 13 games. His best performance, 3 for 24, came on May 5 at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium against LSG.
Electing to bat first, the Sunrisers quickly found themselves in trouble as their top three batters – Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, and Rahul Tripathi – all failed to reach double figures. Unable to recover from this poor start, SRH were ultimately bowled out for just 113 runs in 18.3 overs.
Andre Russell delivered an impressive bowling performance, finishing with figures of 2.3-0-19-3. Mitchell Starc and Harshit Rana also contributed, taking 2 wickets each. KKR then chased down the target with 57 balls remaining, thanks to an unbeaten 52-run knock from Venkatesh Iyer off just 26 deliveries, which included 4 fours and 3 sixes.