[Watch] Mitchell Starc castles Harshit Rana with a brutal yorker to complete a rare milestone in 2nd BGT 2024-25 Test
Australia's left-arm quick Mitchell Starc clean bowled his former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) teammate Harshit Rana with a jaffa in the second 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test on Friday, December 6. This was his first five-wicket haul against India, and a sweet revenge as Harshit dismissed him in the Perth Test.
It was a trademark Starc delivery: a booming in-swinging yorker at high pace. Harshit didn't just miss the line but couldn't bring his bat down quickly enough, allowing the swirling pink cherry to beat his inside edge and clatter his stumps.
Watch it here:
Harshit and Starc were quite chatty in the Perth Test. Before getting him out, the Indian youngster bowled a few bouncers at Starc, which prompted the latter to cheekily remind him that he was "quicker" and wouldn't forget the treatment.
Once in Adelaide, Starc made full use of the swinging pink ball. He began the spell by taking Yashasvi Jaiswal out on the first ball of the Test and then took out his partner, KL Rahul and India's number four, Virat Kohli in quick succession.
Harshit's wicket was also his second in the over, having taken out Ravichandran Ashwin with a similar in-swinger which hit his pads plumb in front for LBW, two balls earlier. The over ended as a remarkable double-wicket maiden.
Mitchell Starc's stunning pink-ball record
This spell was another chapter in Starc's pink-ball prowess. Even before this game, he was the highest wicket-taker in day-night Tests.
The five wickets here took his tally to 71 (at an average of just over 18), 28 more than the second-best on the list, Nathan Lyon. It was also the left-arm quick's fourth fifer in pink-ball Tests when no other bowler has more than two.
At the time of writing, India were 176-8, with Nitish Kumar Reddy and Jasprit Bumrah on the crease. Catch all the live action from the Test here.