IPL 2023: Nitish Rana, who just took over as captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders in Shreyas Iyer‘s absence, visited the renowned Kalighat temple in Kalighat, Kolkata, with KKR head coach Chandrakant Pandit to seek blessings before beginning his new voyage. Nitish, who has been a member of KKR since 2018, has been pushing hard and has also captained Delhi in domestic cricket. KKR will be leaving on Thursday for Mohali, where they play their IPL 2023 opener against Punjab Kings this Saturday. Follow IPL 2023 LIVE updates with InsideSport.IN
𝘔𝘢𝘢 𝘒𝘢𝘭𝘪 𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘺𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘶𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪! 🙏💜@NitishRana_27 #AmiKKR #TATAIPL2023 pic.twitter.com/saGQC58nwX
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 28, 2023
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 28, 2023
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Rana, who joined the team in 2012 and has been a member ever since, and Sunil Narine were the two candidates for the temporary captaincy. In the first season of the International League T20, Narine captained Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, who finished last out of six teams with one win and eight losses.
In 12 T20 matches for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Rana has steered his state team Delhi to eight victories and four losses. He was acquired by KKR before the 2018 season and has been with the team ever since. He has participated in 74 games for them and has amassed 1744 runs at a strike rate of 135.61.
Rana has played under Shreyas Iyer, Eoin Morgan, and Dinesh Karthik. He has undoubtedly picked up a lot from each of them. The left-handed batter is keen on doing things his way and in his own manner when it comes to captaincy. “I like to take responsibility. The direction we are following as a team should lead us to our goal. I don’t follow anyone’s captaincy style. I just want to do it my way,” Rana said on Wednesday.
Rana scored 361 runs with a strike rate of 143.82 last season, placing second among KKR’s run scorers after Shreyas. The squad had a terrible season, finishing seventh in the league with six victories and eight defeats. With Rana taking over as captain, KKR will have a new leadership this season, with Bharat Arun being named bowling coach and Chandrakant Pandit succeeding Brendon McCullum as head coach.
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