IPL 2018 | Nitish Rana doubtful for the match against Chennai Super Kings
Nitish Rana, who has been the spine of the KKR middle order, is suffering from a lower back spasm and is doubtful for the match against Chennai Super Kings, which would be a huge blow for the home team. Rana has scored 188 runs for his team and has been awarded man of the match twice.
KKR’s most consistent middle-order batsmen, Nitish Rana had to walk off the field in KKR’s last match against RCB on April 29th while batting on 17. As a result of the spasm, the Delhi-born batsman missed the full-fledged training session of KKR ahead of their clash against CSK. The team officials reported that they would be taking the call on his inclusion in the team ahead of the match on Thursday.
"He has lower back spasms. The medical team will take a call tomorrow morning," a team official told PTI.
Rana has scored 188 runs at an impressive average of 31.33 in the eight matches he has played so far and has been handy with the bowl as well, taking 4 crucial wickets for the team. And while his injury has come as a big surprise for the team, he may be replaced by Jharkhand's Ishank Jaggi, who is yet to play a match this season. And if that happens, then youngster Shubman Gill could get a chance to play up the order.
Yesterday, CSK coach Stephen Fleming organized an optional training session at the Eden Gardens and while Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh skipped the optional training, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Lungi Ngidi, and Faf du Plessis joined the team midway into the practice session.
CSK are the current leaders of the points table with 12 points and KKR are trailing them with 8 points and are at the fourth spot on the table.