Nitish Rana, the reliable left-handed batsman of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) said that he is an admirer of former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly from his young days even before opting for cricket professionally. He explained how his batting style looks similar to Ganguly, who played as a left-hander in KKR’s team.
Nitish Rana is yet to feature for the senior Indian team in any of the formats. He has played 46 matches where he scored 1085 runs averaging 28.55 at a strike rate of 134.62 which includes eight half-centuries. Rana has also snared seven wickets averaging 17.
Nitish Rana Admires Sourav Ganguly From Childhood And Follows Gautam Gambhir For 12 Years
Sourav Ganguly is the current BCCI president and had captained India between 2000 and 2005 besides supporting the then younger players like Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh among others. He also captained KKR from 2008 to 2010 but was sacked following the team’s poor performance.
“Even before I started playing, my family was crazy about cricket. My father was a huge fan of Sachin Tendulkar, my elder brother was a fan of Rahul Dravid, and I was an admirer of Sourav Ganguly. I was not even playing cricket back then. This was a routine in the house. Basically, depending on who among Ganguly, Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar performs better on a given day, we used to tease each other,” Rana told KKR’s official website.
“I was great at mimicking the styles of every bowler and batsman. So, everyone used to ask me to act like Dada and I used to do that happily. So, I guess the repeated imitation led to a habit and moulded my batting style to a certain extent,” he added.
The former left-handed batsman Gautam Gambhir also inspired Nitish Rana as he observed his batting for almost 12 years. Nitish Rana is a vital member of KKR from 2018 after representing Mumbai Indians from 2014 to 2017.
“But when I started cricket professionally, I met Gautam Gambhir. We were from the same club. Whenever I used to go for training, I would observe him while he would bat. I don’t think my batting matches his style but if people compare, I have no issues with it. I had been closely observing him for almost 12 years.” Rana said.
Gautam Gambhir played important innings for India in finals of T20 World Cup in 2007 and 2011 World Cup both of which were won by India. He was also instrumental for KKR as he gave them two titles in 2012 and 2014 and is their leading run-scorer with 3035 runs.
Nitish Rana Is Working Hard To Maintain Consistency
The 26-year-old middle-order batsman is working to maintain his consistency as he has failed to convert starts to big scores. However, the player is yet to find a solution to his problem.
“I am actually trying to work this out. I am still figuring out as to why my performances dip after a good start. This has been a recurrent incident with me even in domestic seasons. I haven’t got a way out of the problem yet. I have got somewhat better in the second season of IPL in comparison to the first one.” Rana said.
The IPL 2020 will be played in the UAE from September 19-November 10 across three venues — Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah.
The final match of the 2020 edition is scheduled to be played on a weekday, i.e. Tuesday, for the first time in IPL history. This time, both the afternoon and evening matches will be played half-an-hour earlier than usual. The schedule for the tournament is yet to be announced.