IPL: Nitish Rana’s blistering fifty helps Mumbai Indians pummel Kings XI Punjab

Nitish Rana continued his sublime form in IPL 2017 as riding on his unbeaten 34-ball 62, Mumbai Indians pummeled Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets to go to the top of standings.

Mumbai Indians batsman Nitish Rana continued his fairytale run in the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL) with a brilliant 29-ball fifty against Kings XI Punjab at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Thursday. Rohit Sharma’s men won the game by eight wickets, their fifth straight victory while chasing this season. (KXIP v MI: Highlights)

Nitish Rana hit his third fifty of IPL 2017 as Mumbai Indians beat Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets to go to the top of standings. (BCCI)

The 22-year old has been the most successful batsman for his team this season and he proved his mettle once again with an innings which comprised of seven huge sixes. (KXIP v MI: Scorecard)

He looked confident from the very first ball and it did not take long for him to get into his groove as he scored a huge six off Marcus Stoinis and then slammed Axar Patel for another maximum in the next over.

Nitish Rana took a special liking to the Kings XI Punjab spinners as he scored two sixes off Axar Patel and then went on to slam Swapnil Singh for two more over long-on.

He provided great support to Jos Buttler, who scored his maiden IPL fifty, and the duo stitched together a 85-run stand.

The wicket of Buttler did slow down the run rate a bit, but Rana kept his calm and reached his third fifty of this tournament with a huge six off Ishant Sharma.