Harshit Rana made his Test debut during the opening Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 against Australia at Perth where he snapped three wickets and gave away 48 runs
Our Bureau
Nagpur
During the first ODI against England at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium on Thursday, Indian right-arm seamer Harshit Rana became the first Indian bowler to take 3+ wicket on his debut innings across each of the three formats.
Harshit finished off his first ODI innings with three wickets in seven overs where he conceded53 runs in his spell of seven overs where he bowled one maiden over too.
With this spell, the speedster achieved the landmark and became the first Indian to do so.
The fast bowler didn’t have a good start to his ODI career as England wicketkeeper-batter Philip Salt smashed 26 runs in his third over of the spell after which he was removed from the spell as he gave away 37 runs in his first three overs,
But later, the cricketer made a comeback and snapped three wickets and bowled a maiden over in the remaining four overs of his spell and finished his spell with 7-1-53-3.
Earlier last month, Harshit Rana came in as a concussion substitute for Shivam Dube during the fourth T20I of the five-match series against India at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium. Harshit finished his spell with a figures of 4-0-33-3.
Harshit Rana made his Test debut during the opening Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 against Australia at Perth where he snapped three wickets and gave away 48 runs.
The fast bowler has played two Tests and a sole T20I for India. In two Tests, he has four wickets at an average of 50.75, with best figures of 3/48. In a solitary T20I appearance against England, he took three wickets at an average of 11.00, ending the match with figures of 3/33. In 14 List-A matches, Harshit has taken 22 wickets at an average of 23.45, with best figures of 4/17.
The 23-year-old’s T20I debut became a hot topic for debate for fans and former cricketers in the fourth T20I. He came on as a concussion substitute for Shivam Dube and delivered a match-winning spell. The decision certainly triggered England fans, and captain Jos Buttler didn’t hide away his dissatisfaction after the game.
BGT 2024-25 becomes India’s most-watched away Test series
The Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 has delivered unprecedented viewing figures on the JioStar network with TV viewership growing by 74 percent compared to the previous edition of the series in Australia, according to a release from Star Sports.
The India-Australia rivalry, branded the toughest rivalry by the JioStar network, has hit a new high with the series in 2024-25 becoming the second most watched away test series for the Indian team on Television.
The series was watched by 192.5M viewers on TV, recording 52 billion minutes of total watch-time across television and digital platforms. Despite the sub-optimal match timings due to the time-difference, this series also became the second most watched test series on Indian Television (including India’s home and away test series) with the No.1 spot also belonging to this rivalry with the BGT trophy in 2017.
The five-language live broadcast of the series which produced cinematic moments of cricket, dramatic performances by cricketers from both nations, intense competition throughout and culture-defining events, captivated the attention of fans and registered an impressive 49 per cent increase in Television watch-time compared to the 2020 edition, the release added.
The viewing experience was enhanced with a meticulously selected line-up of Indian experts including Cheteshwar Pujara, Irfan Pathan, Sunil Gavaskar, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Vijay and Ravi Shastri, combined with key Australian voices such as Adam Gilchrist, Justin Langer, and Matthew Hayden.
“We are proud to have institutionalised ‘The Toughest Rivalry’ as a unique descriptor of India-Australia matches. After the success of establishing ‘The Greatest Rivalry’ as the universally accepted nomenclature for India-Pakistan clashes, this was the next step in ‘eventification’ of another key rivalry. The coverage of BGT 2024-25 also demonstrated our commitment to delivering a world class on-screen sporting experiences to millions of fans. From a brand-new design package to the advent of new cameras, we strived to provide a deeply immersive experience to sports fans. We are proud that our Hindi coverage garnered appreciation from the Indian diaspora across the world and are grateful to Cricket Australia for their trust and collaboration, which has been instrumental in bringing ‘The Toughest Rivalry’ alive in such a spectacular manner,” said Sanjog Gupta, CEO Sports, Jio Star on Star Sports was quoted in a Star Sports release as saying.
