Lucknow Super Giants seized control of their game early, against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens, with a breathtaking 99-run stand between Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram. The duo began with caution with the ball swinging around and a healthy amount of grass on the deck, until breaking loose against Spencer Johnson in the fourth over. The same fate awaited Harshit Rana who came on for the first time two overs later and was dispatched for 16, courtesy of a maximum each from the two openers. However, when all of Ajinkya Rahane’s weapons failed to break through, he turned once again to the right arm quick in the 11th over and this time, the youngster did not disappoint.
Harshit began with a loose short and wide delivery that Markram managed to comfortably caress for four. The pacer, who has earned a repute for fierce and often unhibited showcases of passion on the field, could have easily got swept by his feelings and used his fiery pace with impractical affect. Yet, Harshit showed immense maturity to instead choose the surprise off-cutter on length, executed perfectly to bamboozle the Proteas while breaching the gap between bat and pad and shatter the stumps.
Twitterati was quick to heap praise on the Delhi pacer for his wits.
Wow!!!
Well played!
Well played Markram 🔥
50 missed #KKRvLSG pic.twitter.com/ckAYs2vUjK— Asif🦅 (@DargaAsif) April 8, 2025
Markram starting to find a bit of form pic.twitter.com/ZuFz1dystj
— Werner (@Werries_) April 8, 2025
Nice delivery!
bowled!
What a special knock by markram
– what an unbelievable bowled ball by harshit rana#KKRvsLSG pic.twitter.com/qz82DGZLuU— CRICKET GURU (@GautamSing32370) April 8, 2025
HARSHIT RANA GETS THE OPENING WICKET FOR KKR.
– A top innings by Aiden Markram 47 (29). LSG 99/1. pic.twitter.com/Q9J4o2DoBm— Jitendra Kumar (@JitendraKumar41) April 8, 2025
Yah!
Markram’s got some real flair in his shots. He did well today, it will take a lot of pressure off the middle order.
— Shivani Shukla (@iShivani_Shukla) April 8, 2025
haha!
Markram gets out Pooran comes to bat pic.twitter.com/8xLizBH6mF
— Shashank (@shashankr_) April 8, 2025
🚨 Harshit Rana does the trick – and it’s a big one!
🔸Aiden Markram bowled for 47(28).
🔸Slower off-cutter and crashes into the stumps!
– KKR finally break the opening stand! | LSG 99/1.#KKRvsLSG #LSGvKKR #IPL2025 #TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/hXeT9RMDlw— Yogesh Goswami (@yogeshgoswami_) April 8, 2025
what adelivery!
Harshit Rana slower ball to dismiss markram 👌🏻👌🏻
— . (@18stan__) April 8, 2025
