Page 40 - The Indian EYE 021425

SPORTS FEBRUARY 14, 2025 | The Indian Eye 40

HARSHIT RANA

With three wickets in first games across three

formats, India pacer makes a dream debut

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 spell with a figures of 4-0-33-3.
Harshit Rana made his Test de-
Nagpur
but during the opening Test of Bor-
uring the first ODI against der-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 against
England at the Vidarbha Australia at Perth where he snapped
DCricket Association Stadium three wickets and gave away 48 runs.
on Thursday, Indian right-arm seam- The fast bowler has played two
er Harshit Rana became the first In- Tests and a sole T20I for India. In
dian bowler to take 3+ wicket on his two Tests, he has four wickets at an
debut innings across each of the three average of 50.75, with best figures of
formats. 3/48. In a solitary T20I appearance
Harshit finished off his first ODI against England, he took three wick-
innings with three wickets in sev- ets at an average of 11.00, ending
en overs where he conceded53 runs the match with figures of 3/33. In 14
in his spell of seven overs where he List-A matches, Harshit has taken 22
bowled one maiden over too. wickets at an average of 23.45, with
With this spell, the speedster best figures of 4/17.
achieved the landmark and became The 23-year-old’s T20I debut be-
the first Indian to do so. came a hot topic for debate for fans
The fast bowler didn’t have a Harshit Rana celebrates a wicket during the 1st ODI match against England, at VCA stadium in and former cricketers in the fourth
good start to his ODI career as En- Nagpur on Thursday. (ANI Photo) T20I. He came on as a concussion
gland wicketkeeper-batter Philip Salt substitute for Shivam Dube and de-
smashed 26 runs in his third over of comeback and snapped three wick- came in as a concussion substitute for livered a match-winning spell. The
the spell after which he was removed ets and bowled a maiden over in the Shivam Dube during the fourth T20I decision certainly triggered England
from the spell as he gave away 37 remaining four overs of his spell and of the five-match series against India fans, and captain Jos Buttler didn’t
runs in his first three overs, finished his spell with 7-1-53-3. at the Maharashtra Cricket Associ- hide away his dissatisfaction after the
But later, the cricketer made a Earlier last month, Harshit Rana ation Stadium. Harshit finished his game.

BGT 2024-25 becomes India’s most-watched away Test series

he Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 has this rivalry with the BGT trophy in 2017. tablishing ‘The Greatest Rivalry’ as the univer-
delivered unprecedented viewing figures The five-language live broadcast of the series sally accepted nomenclature for India-Pakistan
Ton the JioStar network with TV viewer- which produced cinematic moments of cricket, clashes, this was the next step in ‘eventification’
ship growing by 74 percent compared to the pre- dramatic performances by cricketers from both of another key rivalry. The coverage of BGT
vious edition of the series in Australia, according nations, intense competition throughout and cul- 2024-25 also demonstrated our commitment to
to a release from Star Sports. ture-defining events, captivated the attention of delivering a world class on-screen sporting ex-
The India-Australia rivalry, branded the fans and registered an impressive 49 per cent in- periences to millions of fans. From a brand-new
toughest rivalry by the JioStar network, has hit crease in Television watch-time compared to the design package to the advent of new cameras, we
a new high with the series in 2024-25 becoming 2020 edition, the release added. strived to provide a deeply immersive experience
the second most watched away test series for the The viewing experience was enhanced with to sports fans.
Indian team on Television. a meticulously selected line-up of Indian experts We are proud that our Hindi coverage
The series was watched by 192.5M view- including Cheteshwar Pujara, Irfan Pathan, Sunil garnered appreciation from the Indian diaspo-
ers on TV, recording 52 billion minutes of total Gavaskar, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Vijay and ra across the world and are grateful to Crick-
watch-time across television and digital plat- Ravi Shastri, combined with key Australian voices et Australia for their trust and collaboration,
forms. Despite the sub-optimal match timings such as Adam Gilchrist, Justin Langer, and Mat- which has been instrumental in bringing ‘The
due to the time-difference, this series also be- thew Hayden. Toughest Rivalry’ alive in such a spectacular
came the second most watched test series on In- “We are proud to have institutionalised ‘The manner,” said Sanjog Gupta, CEO Sports, Jio
dian Television (including India’s home and away Toughest Rivalry’ as a unique descriptor of In- Star on Star Sports was quoted in a Star Sports
test series) with the No.1 spot also belonging to dia-Australia matches. After the success of es- release as saying.

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