Debutants’ day out in Perth: Harshit Rana, Nitish Reddy make instant impact | Cricket news

NEW DELHI: “Oh! Knocks him over, gets his first wicket,” erupted commentator Harsha Bhogle in glee as Travis Head, an omnipresent enemy of Team India, started to walk away, holding his head down in dismay.
On the receiving end of Bhogle’s praise was a debutant Harshit Ranawho had completely surprised the Australian batting maestro with the work of his wrist.
A good length delivery was angled into the left-hander’s head looking for a response that eventually never came. The ball badly evaded the fielder’s defence, rattled the stumps and sent the bails sending Rana into the world of euphoria.

He jumped as high as he could and threw his arm in utter elation to express what the scalp had meant to him. The 22-year-old kick-started his Test career in some fashion, ending his first Test spell with one wicket while conceding 21 runs from six overs away.
His second spell, including just two overs, was rather fruitless, leaking 12 runs before the end of the day’s play, with Australia struggling at 67/7. Earlier in his first spell, Rana looked a bit lopsided. Perhaps a debutant’s nerves hadn’t settled yet, resulting in a few dodgy deliveries – one of which was a no-ball.
A strange looking short ball outside off stump just waiting to be slammed – The head did justice on that occasion, hitting his first and last boundary of the day. Perhaps that boundary had fueled the thirst in Rana, which would ultimately be quenched with the left-armer’s scalp a few balls later.
Before the match, there was a general feeling that India could spring a surprise against debutants.
But when former Team India captain Virat Kohli was seen handing over the debut caps to two newcomers, very few would have felt that both of them would justify their selection.
strike first, Nitish Reddythe other debutant, shone with the bat. On a day when the top order could not muster anything of substance, the 21-year-old took matters into his own hands and scored 41 runs off 59 balls with six 4s and a rare six.

It would not be too wrong to say that without Reddy’s quick bowling, despite not being a well-deserved half-century, India could have been short of 100, leaving the bowlers, including Harshit, with too little leeway.
With stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah leading Australia’s collapse with a four-fer on Day 1 of the first Test in Perth, it appeared that Reddy’s bowling services were not needed. Maybe God has a better day planned for him when he too would jump and throw his arm in excitement.