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Harshit Rana is making his international debut for India in the ongoing Test match at Optus Stadium in Perth, and he picked Travis Head as his maiden Test wicket.
Marnus Labuschagne gives flying kiss to Harshit Rana. (Picture Credit: Screengrab)
The first Test of the five-match series between India and Australia is currently underway at the Optus Stadium in Perth. During the opening day’s play of the first match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, star Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne was seen giving a flying kiss to Indian pacer Harshit Rana. The incident took place in the eighth over of Australia’s innings.
Labuschagne was hit on the body by the 22-year-old Indian pacer on the fifth ball, and after that, he gave a cold stare to Labuschagne. The Aussie cricketer reacted by giving a flying kiss. The video of Labuschagne’s epic reaction is now going viral on the internet.
The act by Labuschagne reminds fans of IPL 2024, in which, while playing for KKR, Rana made headlines for his flying kiss celebrations after taking wicket. The Delhi-based cricketer was also banned for a game due to his controversial celebration.
Rana, who was preferred over the likes of Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna in playing XI as third pacer, picked up his maiden Test wicket by getting rid of Travis Head.
Head came out to bat at No. 5 for the hosts but could only manage to score 11 runs from 13 balls with the help of two fours.
For India, before Rana joined the party, captain Jasprit Bumrah set the tone by taking three wickets. He opened his account by trapping debutant Nathan McSweeney in front of the wickets on the third ball of his second over and then, in the fourth over, removing Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith on back-to-back deliveries.
While Khawaja was caught in the slips by Virat Kohli, Smith was trapped in front of the wickets by Bumrah for a golden duck.
Earlier in the first two sessions, Australian bowlers dominated the show and dismissed India for just 150 runs. For the visitors, all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy scored 41 runs on his Test debut, and Rishabh Pant contributed 37 runs from 78 balls. There were high expectations from Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal, but they could only score 5 and 0 runs, respectively.
For Aussies, Josh Hazlewood picked up four wickets for 29 runs, and two Indian batters each were sent back to the pavilion by Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Mitchell Marsh.
