Rana praised Jaiswal for his innings. He also added that he decided to take a chance by opening the bowling but this time it did not work in his favour.
Nitish Rana said that he doesn’t care about the opinions of other people after he was heavily criticised for opening the bowling for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in an IPL 2023 match. Rana was smashed for 26 runs in the only over that he bowled by RR opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. This is the most a bowler has conceded in the first over of any IPL innings.
After the Knights put up 149 on the board, Rana took the onus of bowling the first over. But the move backfired spectacularly as Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed him for two sixes and three fours to take RR off to a flying start. From there on, the Royals became unstoppable as they chased down the target with 41 balls remaining with nine wickets in hand.
After the game, Rana praised Jaiswal for his innings. He also added that he decided to take a chance by opening the bowling but this time it did not work in his favour.
“Jaiswal's innings was praiseworthy. Today was one of those days in life when everything went in his favour. I thought 180 was par. We made a lot of mistakes with the bat and it's the reason for losing out on two points,” Rana said after the match.
“Don't care what the world says about me. I bowled first because I thought I could gamble as a part-timer and get the in-form Jaiswal out but it was his day,” he added.
KKR all-rounder Venkatesh Iywr, who scored a half-century in the match, also defended his captain.
"With a lefthander (Jaiswal) at the crease and him being an off-spinner I don't think it was a wrong option," Venkatesh pointed out at the post-match media interaction.
The decision seemed baffling as KKR had an in-form spinner in Varun Chakravarthy (17 wickets) but Venkatesh said it was more to do with match-ups.
"We all know what he's capable of with the bowl. He has picked crucial wickets in his career. Unfortunately, it didn't go in our favour, had he picked up the wicket (of Jaiswal), it would have been a captain's masterstroke. These things happen on the field."
Terming Rana an "unbelievable bowler", Venkatesh elaborated more on the contentious call."
"The wicket was holding a little bit and was on the slower side. We wanted to exploit the spin with the new ball. It didn't work out so the questions. But Rana is an unbelievable bowler, he has come up and picked wickets wherever he bowled with economical bowling. One game would not make him a bad bowler."
Jaiswal stayed unbeaten on 98 0ff 47 balls with 12 boundaries and five maximums. RR are now up to third having won six and lost six of their twelve games so far with a significantly improved net run-rate.
KKR are in seventh having won five and lost seven of their twelve games but with a negative net run-rate.
Disclaimer: This Article is auto-generated from the HT news service.
