Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Nitish Rana has made a rollicking start to his IPL 12 campaign and has already smashed a couple of half-centuries in their first two matches. The southpaw is a wonderful player and set the foundation for a score of 218 for KKR in the 2nd match against Kings XI Punjab. Despite his good start, Nitish Rana doesn’t want to get carried away and want to put up a consistent show all through the tournament.
He has played an aggressive brand of cricket and has excelled in the opening slot and in the middle order. Rana smashed 7 sixes during his exceptional knock yesterday and 4 of them came against Kings XI Punjab skipper Ravichandran Ashwin. He looked in great touch but was eventually dismissed on 63 of 34 deliveries which included 2 fours and 7 sixes.
“I was just trying to build my innings. I was taking it ball by ball at the start and then when I thought I could charge, I did that,” Rana said during a press conference in Mohali. He further added that he wants to maintain his consistency and it is just the start of the tournament.
“So, this time around, I want to work on this. I want to continue the kind of form I have started in till the end of the tournament,” Rana further said.
BCCI
Robin Uthappa supported Rana quite brilliantly and played the sheet anchor’s role to perfection. On the other end, Rana went hammers and tongs and kept clearing the fence on a consistent basis. It was Rana’s quickfire knock backed up by the brilliance of Andre Russell which propelled Kolkata Knight Riders to a daunting score of 218 runs.
“I haven’t thought too far ahead. But for the last couple of seasons, I start well but my form fizzles out towards the latter half of the tournament,” Rana said.
Following Rana’s terrific innings he took the orange cap from Rishabh Pant and is currently the leading run scorer in the tournament. When Rana further added that he want to prove himself by batting at different positions.
“That’s the sign of a good team. My plan was clear – to hit a loose ball and then, let DK (Dinesh Karthik) or (Andre) Russell take over for the last four-five overs,” Rana maintained.
Due to Sunil Narine’s injury, it was Nitish Rana who came out to open the innings with Chris Lynn during the opening match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, He performed well but had to give back the opening position to Sunil Narine after he got fit. Rana has performed quite brilliantly in the domestic circuit and feels he is a much-improved batsman.
“I did not work on batting as such but I worked on the mental toughness. KKR Academy was quite helpful in that sense because I got one-on-one time with Abhishek bhaiya and DK bhaiya. They helped me clear self-doubts. Now, I feel, I’ve become a better player,” Rana added.
Photo by Saikat Das / IPL/ SPORTZPICS
Nitish Rana concluded by congratulating Andre Russell and lauding him for playing a massive role in KKR’s victory in both the matches. Russell scored a 19 balls 49 in the first match and followed it up with a 17 balls 47 yesterday. In addition, he also tops of the chart in the purple cap list with 4 wickets to his name. Courtesy his exceptional all-round showing Andre Russell bagged the Man of the Match Award on both the occasions.
