Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana‘s gamble of opening the bowling in Indian Premier League 2023 Match 56 against Rajasthan Royals at the Eden Gardens backfired after he ended up becoming part of an unwanted list in the history of the biggest T20 league across the globe.
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Perhaps wanting to trouble in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal with his part-time off-breaks, a clueless Rana couldn’t stop the left-handed batter from hitting boundaries. As a result, Rana ended up conceding 26 runs in his first over to register the joint second-most expensive over in the history of the IPL.
Rana joined legendary spinner Harbhajan Singh as both the off-spinners have now leaked 26 runs in the first over of an IPL match. Co-interestingly, Singh had bowled that over against the Knight Riders at the same venue a decade ago.
Taking into consideration the form Jaiswal is in, it wasn’t surprising to see him step down the track to hit Rana over his head for a first-ball six. A complete change of his boundary fielders didn’t work for Rana either as Jaiswal swept him over the square leg region for a second consecutive six.
What followed was a cover drive off a low full toss and a couple of cuts through the point region which powered Royals to a mind-blowing start in their attempt to chase down a 150-run target.
Most Expensive First Over in IPL History
| S. No. | Runs | Bowler | Batters | Venue | Year |
| 1 | 27 | Abu Nechim (RCB) | Chris Gayle (MI) | MA Chidambaram Stadium | 2011 |
| 2 | 26 | Nitish Rana (KKR) | Yashasvi Jaiswal (RR) | Eden Gardens | 2023 |
| 3 | 26 | Harbhajan Singh (MI) | Yusuf Pathan & Gautam Gambhir (KKR) | Eden Gardens | 2013 |
| 4 | 25 | Shivam Mavi (KKR) | Prithvi Shaw (DC) | Narendra Modi Stadium | 2021 |
| 5 | 23 | Varon Aaron (RR) | Virat Kohli & AB de Villiers (RCB) | M Chinnaswamy Stadium | 2019 |
Nitish Rana Bowling Record in IPL 2023
Even though the ploy laid foundation for a potential loss, one understands the rationale behind Rana bowling the first over tonight. Readers must note that Rana’s bowling record this season wasn’t too bad before this match. In the 6.5 overs that he bowled across four innings this season until Thursday, Rana had dismissed three batters at an average of 15.33, an economy rate of 6.73 and a strike rate of 13.67.
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