IPL 2024 ended on May 26 with Kolkata Knight Riders emerging as the champions. The Kolkata-based franchise lifted their third title as they earlier clinched it 2012 and 2014. KKR had a memorable outing in IPL 2024, dominating the opposition with both bat and ball. Talking about the memories, KKR pacer Harshit Rana became one of the biggest talking points of the season, not only for his bowling but also for his wild celebration. The 22-year-old pacer made headlines for blowing flying kisses to opposition batters, in order to celebrate their dismissals.
It all started with KKR's opening game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, where Rana blew a flying kiss after scalping the wicket of Mayank Agarwal. As a result, the KKR pacer was charged a fine and had to give 60 per cent of his match fee.
Recently, Rana opened up on the send-off he gave to Agarwal and revealed that it was not at all predetermined.
"I didn't deliberately do it – the flying kiss. When I took the wicket of Mayank bhaiya… actually when he hit the ball in the air, I got close to him during my follow-through. It happened instinctively and it came out. The cameraman focused on it well. I met him [Mayank] again in the final and told him there was no malice. He understood. He and I have had this equation. I had a bit of it [banter] during the Duleep Trophy match as well," the KKR pacer told Shubhankar Mishra on his podcast.
Later in the tournament, he almost gave a similar send-off to Delhi Capitals batter Abishek Porel and this time, he was not only imposed a fine but also got banned for a match.
During the tournament, the KKR pacer was also challenged by a few fans to blew a flying kiss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru star batter Virat Kohli. On being asked whether he would be doing it, Rana straight away refused from accepting the challenge.
"I am telling you. I didn't pre-determine that I'll go and do it in the first match. And even in the second game. People dared me to try and do it in the RCB match. But I didn't tease him [Kohli]. I have respect for him. I have respect for every player, but no, I wouldn't do it in front of him," said Rana.
Talking about this gesture, KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan also grabbed everyone's attention after he celebrated his team's title win by prompting everyone to blow flying kisses.