NEW DELHI: “Oh! Knocks him over, gets his first wicket,” Commentator Harsha Bhogle erupted in joy as Travis Head, an omnipresent nemesis of Team India, started walking off, keeping his head down in dismay.
On the receiving end of Bhogle’s plaudits was debutant Harshit Rana, who had completely outfoxed the Australian batting maestro with the work of his wrist.
A good length delivery was angled into the left-hander Head who searched for an answer that eventually never came. The ball, guilefully avoiding the batter’s defence, rattled the stumps and dispatched the bails, sending Rana into the world of euphoria.
He leapt as high as he could and threw his arm in complete elation to express what the scalp had meant for him. Kickstarting his Test career in some manner, the 22-year-old ended his first Test spell with one wicket while giving away 21 runs from six overs.
His second spell, including only 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 was looking a bit topsy-turvy. Perhaps the nerves of a debutant had not settled in yet, resulting in a couple of dodgy deliveries—one of which was a no-ball.
A weird-looking short ball outside off stump just waiting to be smacked—Head did justice on that occasion, clinching his first and final boundary of the day. Perhaps that boundary had spurred the thirst in Rana that would be quenched ultimately with the lefty’s scalp a few balls later.
Before the match, there was a general feeling that India could come up with a surprise in terms of debutants.
But when former Team India captain Virat Kohli was seen handing the debut caps to two newcomers, very few would’ve felt that both of them would justify their selections.
Batting first, Nitish Reddy, the other debutant, shone with the bat. On a day where the top order could not muster anything significant, the 21-year-old took matters into his hands, scoring 41 runs off 59 balls with six 4s and one rare six.
It would not be too wrong to say that without Reddy’s rapid roll, despite falling short of a well-deserved half-century, India could’ve been down under 100, leaving the bowlers, including Harshit, with too little of a leeway.
With stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah leading Australia’s collapse with a four-fer on Day 1 of the first Test at Perth, Reddy’s services in bowling did not appear to be needed. Perhaps God has a better day planned for him where he would also leap and throw his arm in elation.