Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Harshit Rana has been fined 100% of his match fee and suspended for a game after he was found guilty of breaching the IPL's code of conduct during the clash against Delhi Capitals at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday, April 29.
Kolkata Knight Riders registered a seven-wicket win over Delhi Capitals to be in contention for the playoff spot. With a target of 154, KKR chased it down 16.3 overs. Phil Salt was the star performer with a brilliant 68 off 33 balls while skipper Shreyas Iyer (33) and Venkatesh Iyer chipped in KKR's run-chase.
However, Harshit Rana's wicket celebration was one of the talking points of the match. Pacer gave a flying-kiss send-off to Abhishek Porel, gesturing towards the DC dugout after dismissing him.
In a statement released by IPL, Harshit Rana committed the level 1 offence as per the IPL code of conduct and accepted the sanction by the Match Refree.
"Mr Harshit Rana, Bowler, Kolkata Knight Riders has been fined 100 per cent of his match fees and suspended for one match for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during Match 47 of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 against Delhi Capitals at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on April 29, 2024." statement
"Rana committed a Level 1 offence under Article 2.5 of the IPL's Code of Conduct. He admitted to the offence and accepted the Match Refereeโs sanction. For Level 1 breaches of the Code of Conduct, the Match Referee's decision is final and binding." statement added.
Harshit Rana became the first player to be suspended for a game for breaching the code of conduct in IPL 2024. The 22-year-old was earlier fined 60% of his match fee for giving flying kiss send-off to Mayank Agarwal in the third match of the ongoing IPL 2024 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata.