KKR's Harshit Rana fined 60 percent match fees for 'flying kiss' gesture against SRH's Mayank Agarwal

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Harshit Rana, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pacer who defended seven runs from last five balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Eden Garden on Saturday (March 23), was fined 60 percent of his match fees for his 'flying kiss' gesture to Mayank Agarwal.

On the third ball of the sixth over, Mayank Agarwal pulled a delivery from Harshit Rana towards deep square leg where Rinku Singh took an easy catch to bring end to SRH's 60-run opening stand.

Rana got candid in his celebration against the experienced opener and blew a flying kiss towards him. "And he is in his face," Ian Bishop said in the commentary box as Rana got really close to Mayank Agarwal while giving the animated send-off. He also pointed towards the dressing room after picking the key wicket of Klaasen.

A release from IPL on Sunday revealed that the 22-year-old Delhi-born was charged separately for two offences. Rana, who dismissed Shahbaz Ahmed and Heinrich Klaasen in the final over to finish with figures of 3/33, admitted both the violations.

"Kolkata Knight Riders bowler Harshit Rana has been fined a total of 60 percent of his match fees for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during his team's Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on March 23," the official release from IPL said.

"Rana committed two Level 1 offences under Article 2.5 of the IPL's Code of Conduct. He was fined 10 percent and 50 percent of his match fees for the two respective offences. Rana admitted to the two offences and accepted the Match Referee’s sanction. For Level 1 breaches of the Code of Conduct, the Match Referee's decision is final and binding," it added.

Rana was bought by KKR at his base price of Rs 20 lakh in the IPL 2023 auction. He was in the list of retained KKR players ahead of the IPL 2024 season.

Sunil Gavaskar criticises Harshit Rana for Mayank Agarwal send-off

Sunil Gavaskar expressed his disappointment after Rana gave the animated send-off to the veteran opener. He suggested that Rana should have simply celebrated with his teammates.

"He should not have done that. Did the batsman do anything to him when he was hitting him for sixes? Cricket can be played without these antics. It's the age of television. I understand that. Celebrate with your teammates but no need for such antics for the opposition," he said in the commentary box.

The match-winning spell from Harshit Rana helped Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by four runs in the last-over thriller. KKR will next face Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Friday, March 29.