The Kolkata Knight Riders registered an important victory against the Punjab Kings on the final ball of the match earlier this week, as they remain alive in the race for playoffs. The Nitish Rana-led side had five wins to its name in 11 matches, and currently stands sixth with 10 points; a total of four teams have the same number of points in the table. While the KKR have been considerably inconsistent this season, a fair few of their players have been key to their wins – one of them the captain himself.
Nitish Rana has scored 326 runs in the season so far, with an impressive strike rate of 146.85. In the side's win against Punjab Kings, Rana had scored an important 51 in the run-chase, and in a detailed chat with former India cricketers Mohammed Kaif and Harbhajan Singh, the Delhi batter opened up on his work behind-the-scenes.
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Rana has been relatively weaker against short-ball over the past few years and Kaif, referring to one of KKR's matches against Sunrisers Hyderabad, pointed out that Rana had smashed Umran Malik's bouncer for a massive six. Kaif asked if the KKR skipper had honed his skills against the short ball, and Rana revealed that in the past, he received many messages and phone-calls from former cricketers who expressed their concerns over his technique against the short-pitched deliveries.
“I've worked on facing the short ball, and it is showing in my batting now. Because many were criticising my technique against short ball,” Rana told Kaif during an interaction on Star Sports.
{{/usCountry}}“I've worked on facing the short ball, and it is showing in my batting now. Because many were criticising my technique against short ball,” Rana told Kaif during an interaction on Star Sports.
{{/usCountry}}“I've worked on my fitness and short-ball technique this year. Many, many big people, who I won't name, have said things about that (short-ball technique); some even phone-called me directly, and that really hurt me. So, I've worked on my batting, dedicated my all to the game. I'm in a better shape as well, and batting well as well,” Rana further revealed.
Nitish Rana is so far the second-highest run-getter for the Knight Riders -- only behind Rinku Singh, who is enjoying a breakthrough season. Rinku currently has 337 runs to his name in 11 innings.