Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bowling coach Bharat Arun backs Nitish Rana who struggles to score runs in the ongoing IPL 2023.
In the absence of Shreyas Iyer, KKR named Nitish Rana as their captain for the IPL 2023 season. KKR named Rana as their skipper following his experience of leading Delhi in domestic matches.
Bharat Arun Backs Nitish Rana
In IPL 2023 so far, KKR played 2 matches and won their last game against RCB while losing the first match by 7 runs(DLS method) against Punjab Kings. Though he led the team in a successive way, his record with bat stumbles in the current season.
Rana just scored 25 runs from playing 2 matches so far and struggles a lot to score big, which is KKR’s expectation.
“I don’t think so. He is an extremely confident player. It’s too early to say that it is a lack of runs. I am sure he will find his form,” Arun was quoted as saying in the pre-match press conference.
Arun also sounded confident that Rana would do well as a skipper going ahead in the T20 league. “He is young, he has got very good cricketing acumen and that’s the reason we chose him as a captain. We are confident that he will be doing well for us,” he stated.
Nitish Rana in IPL So far:
- 2022 – 361
- 2021- 383
- 2020 – 352
- 2019 – 344
- 2018 – 304
- 2017 – 333
- 2016 – 104
KKR roped in Jason Roy after injured Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the season while Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan opted out of the event due to personal and international commitments.
“He is an exciting player and he would certainly add a lot of value to us and we are all excited about it,” Arun added.
We know you have been waiting for this! 🤩
𝘚𝘸𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘮, Roy da! 💜@JasonRoy20 #AmiKKR #TATAIPL2023 pic.twitter.com/eQmIExQP18
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 8, 2023
KKR will now play their next game against Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans on April 9 in Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
