IPL 2019 | Nitish Rana wants to build on good form in next matches
After scoring two consecutive fifties for Kolkata Knight Riders, Nitish Rana has stated that he wants to continue the good work in the next matches. Rana has further admitted that he mostly fizzles out in the second half of the tournament and this time, he is more careful about not doing so.
Rana scored a 34-ball 63 against Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday giving the perfect base for Kolkata Knight Riders, which was eventually capitalised by Andre Russell whose blistering 48-run innings meant Punjab literally had no hope in the mid-way mark of the innings. More than that, it has been Rana’s flexibility that is giving his team a chance of altering the top-order as the need arises.
The Delhi-born cricketer also wants to live up to the team’s expectations and hopes that the second half of the tournament doesn’t come back to haunt him in the future matches.
"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 was quoted as saying by ToI.
"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."
While Rana has always been an exciting commodity in IPL, now for KKR and earlier for Mumbai Indians, his form in the domestic cricket has dwindled a fair bit. In the last Ranji Trophy season, he could score a total of 191 runs from six matches while managing to score just 147 runs from 10 matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s. It was a disturbing time for him and he decided to fly Kolkata early to spend time with Abhishek Nayar and Dinesh Karthik for early preparations at KKR academy, which he thinks is paying rich dividends now.
"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
Having opened the batting due to injury to Sunil Narine in the first match, Rana batted at No.4 in the second match but managed to score half-centuries in both the matches. While that was a consoling factor for the franchise as Dinesh Karthik revealed yesterday in the post-match presentation, Rana said that it was the sign of a good team and he was ready to take his chances at the right time against Punjab.
"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.
"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. It doesn't matter for me who the bowler is. My game plan was simple. I thought that was the time to attack and I did. That was the plan for the two overs -- of Ashwin and South African pacer (Hardus Viljoen)."
Andre Russell got a life very early in the innings when the umpire called his dismissal a no-ball as Punjab had a total of three fielders inside the ring. That cost Punjab big-time as the burly Jamaican ended up scoring a 17-ball 48, but Rana believes that 180-200 was still going to be difficult for the visitors to achieve.
"Having 218/4 definitely worked in our favour, how Russell got a lifeline and that probably gave us those 20-25 runs extra. But even if we had 180 or 200, we would have fought this hard. It wasn't very easy (to chase) because the ball started seaming in the second innings."
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