'Wanted to speak my heart out but Rohit Sharma...' - Nitish Rana sensationally claims India captain silenced his emotional outburst

Nitish Rana, the KKR vice-captain missed a major chunk of IPL 2024 due to a thumb injury. He suffered the injury in the very first game of Kolkata Knight Riders' campaign leading him to miss the majority of the season. 

Ultimately KKR became the IPL 2024 champions and Rana had a little part to play in it. Due to the injury, the southpaw played just two matches and scored 42 runs.

Rohit Sharma has often been seen as a mentor by the Indian players. The young Indian payers of the current squad address him as "Rohit Bhaiya" and fondly love and respect him. Several youngsters have spoken about how Rohit has played the elder brother role in their career and had his arm around the shoulders of the young players. 

Talking in a recent podcast, Nitish Rana shared his side of the story about how Rohit Sharma helped him understand the metrics of captaincy. He narrated an interaction he had when he led KKR in IPL 2023 in the absence of Shreyas Iyer. KKR did not have a good season as they finished seventh in IPL 2022 and 2023. 

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Rohit Sharma Tried To Calm Me Down: Nitish Rana

"Last year, when I was captaining, I went up to Rohit bhaiya. We won two matches then lost two matches. He said 'Nitish, what do you think? What is captaincy?' I was about to say something. Actually. I wanted to speak my heart out, but Rohit bhaiya didn't let me. He said captaincy is nothing. Just changing bowlers, moving fielders from one position to another… it's not captaincy," Rana said on the TRS Clips.

"He said all that to calm me down and ease me up. He made me understand 'As long as the result is in your favour, you're sorted. The day things don't go well, no matter how good you captain, no one will talk about you. So, you concentrate on your process and back yourself. The more you try to complicate, it'll be that tough and the more you keep it simple, the easier it'll be.'"

Despite his team's struggle, Rana's own form was up to the mark as he ended the season with 413 runs – his best IPL tally – at an average of 31.77, including three half-centuries in IPL 2023. He could not replicate the same form due to his injury in IPL 2024. From 2017 to 2023, Rana surpassed 300 runs in every IPL season. 

KKR at the end, won their third IPL title. The success of KKR came under Shreyas Iyer's captaincy and the mentorship of Gautam Gambhir. KKR won two titles under GG in 2012 and 2014. It was again under his mentorship that KKR won their third IPL title. 

Gautam Gambhir is now being targeted by BCCI as they are willing to name him as the next head coach of the Indian team. Rahul Dravid's tenure ends after the T20 World Cup and he has confirmed that he will not continue. As per reports, a decision on Gambhir will soon be taken by the board.

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