India fast bowler Harshit Rana sledged the young Australia opener Nathan McSweeney during the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between Australia and India in Adelaide. Rana was steaming in and clearly bowled his heart out as he had McSweeney on the backfoot.
After the fall of the wicket of Usman Khawaja, India were constantly looking for another wicket and it showed from their body language. During the 12th over of Australia’s first innings, Rana constantly troubled McSweeney with his pace and bounce.
Harshit Rana beat McSweeney’s inside and outside edges repeatedly as the batter had no clue whatsoever. During the over, Rana repeatedly sledged McSweeney with a few words. The young opener was clearly on the back foot after this maiden over and was under huge pressure.
Watch: Pat Cummins shows his football skills and saves a certain boundary during Adelaide Test
Watch: Harshit Rana sledges Nathan McSweeney after bowling a maiden
— Drizzyat12Kennyat8 (@45kennyat7PM) December 6, 2024
Harshit Rana continued his sledging till the end of the over as Nathan McSweeney tried to get out of trouble with an aggressive shot. In the first ball of Rana’s next over, McSweeney bailed his way out of trouble by pulling the fast bowler for a boundary.
It was a release shot from the opener who looked under pressure but was determined to stay at the crease. Nathan McSweeney had a difficult time in the first Test at Perth as he was dismissed for 10 and 0 across both the innings.
The youngster had no clue facing Jasprit Bumrah as the latter got him out in both the innings. He came into this Test under pressure needing runs desperately.
Meanwhile, Harshit Rana had a good start to his Test career as he returned figures of 3-48 and 1-69 across both the innings. Most importantly, India won a historic Test match on his debut.
Australia restrict India to a below par score
Earlier, India won the toss and elected to bat first. The Men in Blue had a poor start and lost Yashasvi Jaiswal off the first ball of the match. Shubman Gill and KL Rahul steadied the innings but India soon lost the plot.
Rahul was dismissed and Gill followed soon. India’s middle order was exposed again and could not add much runs to the tally. Senior batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were dismissed in single-digit scores.
Nitish Kumar Reddy provided some late impetus to take India to 180. Reddy top-scored for India with a fine 42 off 54 balls and was also the last wicket to fall.
Nathan McSweeney starts cautiously
In reply, Australia started cautiously as their openers Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney started well. However, Khawaja was dismissed for his third consecutive low score in the series as he was out for just 13.
Australia are already trailing 0-1 in the series after India won the first Test in Perth by 295 runs. There are three more Tests to be played in this series after the ongoing Test in Adelaide.