IPL 2023: Our batting wasn’t great, it was a 180-run wicket – Nitish Rana

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana admitted that their batting let them down after their nine-wicket loss against Rajasthan Royals at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Thursday. KKR could only post 149 runs on the board after Sanju Samson won the toss and decided to bowl first.

KKR lost two early wickets of their openers – Jason Roy and Rahmanullah Gurbaz – as RR’s catching was brilliant. First Shimron Hetymer took a magnificent running catch at the boundary rope to dismiss Roy and then Sandeep Sharma took a diving catch at mid-off to get rid of Gurbaz.

Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer then added 48 runs for the third wicket but the former became Yuzvendra Chahal’s 184th scalp as the leg-spinner became the most successful bowler in IPL history, leapfrogging Dwayne Bravo’s tally. Iyer got off to a slow start, trundling to 20-ball 11 but he was able to change gears as he scored 57 runs from 42 balls.

However, Andre Russell and Rinku Singh, who both had done a brilliant job against Punjab Kings in the previous match, failed to add the finishing touches for KKR.

On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals made short work of the total as they chased down the score in 13.1 overs with Yashasvi Jaiswal scoring a blistering knock of 98 runs off just 47 balls and skipper Sanju Samson scoring 48 runs from 29 balls.

KKR skipper Nitish Rana decided to bowl the first over and he was taken for 26 runs by Jaiswal to lay down the foundation. The left-handed youngster smashed the fastest IPL fifty off just 13 balls as he was able to hit the ground running and played at the top of his game to make the most of the Powerplay overs.

Nitish Rana said in the post-match presentation, “You have to praise his innings (on Jaiswal), it was a day when he could do anything he wanted. It was a 180 wicket as I said at the toss, our batting wasn’t great and that’s the result of us dropping 2 points.”

He added, “He was batting well right through the tournament, so I thought a part-time spinner could perhaps make him complacent, that was the plan, but he played superbly and those things do happen.”

Kolkata Knight Riders will next take on Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday.