Cricket News

Nitish Rana gives shocking reply when asked about bowling ’26-run’ first over against RR in IPL 2023

After the Rajasthan Royals coasted to a 9-wicket win against Kolkata Knight Riders, Nitish Rana the KKR skipper was quizzed as to why he bowled the first over against RR. To which he gave a really blunt response saying, “Mujhe koi farak nahi padta duniya kya sochti hai.” Rana bore the brunt of Yashasvi Jaiswal’s big hitting as the spinner got hit for 26 runs in the opening over of the run chase.

Jaiswal has been in red-hot form throughout IPL 2023. The left-hander is second on the Orange Cap list. Yesterday the Mumbaikar scored the fastest fifty in IPL history against KKR. The 21-year-old brought up the milestone in only 13 balls and trumped KL Rahul record. Rahul held the record for the fastest IPL fifty until the game against KKR.  Rana said at the post-match presentation that he took a punt to unsettle an in-form Jaiswal by bowling the first over but, the gamble did not pay off.

I wanted to make Jaiswal complacent – Nitish Rana on bowling first over vs Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2023

“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 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.”

RR were wonderful with the ball and the field in the first innings. They played beautifully. The Sanju Samson-led side ensured that they picked up wickets at regular intervals to keep the pressure on KKR. Yuzvendra Chahal was sensational with the ball as he picked up 4-25 in his four-over quota. In the process, he trumped Dwayne Bravo to become the leading wicket-taker in the IPL with 187 wickets.

In the second innings, the Jaiswal- Samson show with the bat handed KKR a big hammering. KKR were found wanting with their batting not firing to full potential. RR fired on all cylinders and were better than KKR in all departments. This ensured a dominating win for them against KKR.