“Mere Ko Usse Zyada Fark Nahin Padhta”: Nitish Rana Unaffected by Criticism Around 26-run Over at Eden Gardens

It was Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana‘s decision to open the bowling against Rajasthan Royals in the recently concluded Indian Premier League 2023 Match 56. In what ended up becoming a key moment in the match, Rana leaking 26 runs saw him bowling the joint second-most expensive first over in the history of the biggest T20 league around the world.

Bowling for the 64th time in his 173rd T20, Rana bowled the first over of the innings only for the fourth time. As far as the previous three (all for KKR in the IPL) instances are concerned, Rana had given away only one, five and five runs respectively.

A left-field option for sure, Rana opted to follow an unconventional route to disrupt in-form batter Yashasvi Jaiswal‘s rhythm. Jaiswal, who is yet to get out to a spinner this season, kick-started his innings by a couple of sixes to follow them with three fours in the same over. Having generated immense momentum for a 150-run chase, Jaiswal scored the fastest IPL half-century to not look behind on a night where he could do no wrong as per Rana.

“He [Yashasvi Jaiswal] was batting well throughout the tournament. Bahut saari cheezein jab aapke favour mein nahin jaati toh duniya aapko bahut kuch bolti hai, mere ko usse zyada fark nahin padhta [People criticize you a lot when things don’t go in your favour [but] I don’t get affected by it]. But credit to him. He started attacking from the first ball. It was his day today,” Rana told host broadcaster Star Sports Network after a 9-wicket loss which has potentially quashed Kolkata’s chances of qualifying for the playoffs.

Twitter User Compares Nitish Rana to Virat Kohli After 26-run Over

A user on social media platform Twitter found similarities between Rana and former Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli. For the unversed, although not in the first over of an innings, Kohli had conceded 28 runs in what was also a game-changing over against Chennai Super Kings 11 years ago.

Kohli, who hasn’t bowled in the IPL since 2016, was brought into the attack by then-captain Daniel Vettori to bowl the penultimate over of the match. With CSK requiring 43 runs to chase down a 206-run target, Albie Morkel had hit three sixes and two fours against Kohli’s gentle medium-pace to bring down the equation to needing 15 runs in the final over.

Till date, Super Kings’ effort remains the highest successful T20 run-chase at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.