GT vs KKR: Nitish Rana reveals what happened in Kolkata's dressing room after they lost to Punjab Kings
Published - 12 May 2024, 03:15 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:11 AM
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter Nitish Rana opened up about the dressing room atmosphere after the loss against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season. Nitish Rana stated that only a few teammates ate dinner after failing to defend a total of 261 runs.
The Knight Riders secured the first playoff spot after an 18-run victory over the Mumbai Indians (MI) in a rain-interrupted match in Kolkata on Saturday, May 11. The Kolkata team leads the standings with 18 points in 12 matches. They are likely to finish in the top two spots with two more matches left.
Earlier, the Shreyas Iyer-led team posted a massive 262-run target at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on April 26. However, the Punjab Kings team successfully chased down the target with eight wickets and as many balls to spare. It marked the highest successful run chase in the shorter format of the game.
We Win Together And We Lose Together - Nitish Rana
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Nitish Rana highlighted the camaraderie between teammates, stating that they win together and lose together. The middle-order batter said that they have a positive dressing room environment, which was missing in the last few seasons.
"We felt really bad that day. I was witness to the dressing room, only three-four ate dinner that night," Rana said.
"We win together and we lose together; that's the dressing room environment we have. It's very important to place hands on each other's shoulders, and I feel it was missing for the last one to two years," he added.
Nitish Rana missed ten consecutive matches in the ongoing season due to injury. The left-handed batter suffered a finger injury during KKR's first match of the season against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). He returned to the team during the match against MI, where he scored 33 runs off 23 deliveries.
KKR failed to qualify for the playoffs in 2022 and 2023. Their upcoming match is against the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday, May 13. They will face the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their last league match at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on May 19.
We Didn't Get That Momentum - Piyush Chawla
Mumbai Indians spinner Piyush Chawla stated that they didn't get momentum throughout the season, which led to their disappointing performances. He acknowledged that they didn't deliver as a group, adding that bowlers and batters never performed together.
"T20 is about momentum, and we didn't get that momentum right from the beginning. Some days we bowled well, but our batting didn't click, and sometimes our batters did well, but the bowlers ended up leaking runs," Chawla said.
"As a unit, we have failed in a few games, and we have to accept that as a team. We have a brilliant lineup, but things didn't fall into place. Today also, we started off brilliantly, but that spell of Narine and Varun actually made the difference. You have to give credit to their bowlers," he added.
