"Gambhir had said that I was the right candidate to lead Delhi" - When a former KKR batter expressed his admiration for his idol
Former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter Nitish Rana has been open in his admiration of Gautam Gambhir and has even described him as his idol. The two narrowly missed out on being teammates for the KKR franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL). While Rana joined the Kolkata team in the year 2018, Gambhir left for Delhi Capitals (DC) the same season.
Gambhir and Rana, though, were teammates in domestic cricket for Delhi. In fact, the former India batter was the left-hander's first captain when he played Ranji Trophy for Delhi. Growing up Rana copied former India skipper Sourav Ganguly's style a lot. However, once the southpaw started playing seriously, his inspiration has always been Gambhir.
Speaking to kkr.in 2020, Rana opened up on his admiration for Gambhir and asserted that he learned a lot just by watching the latter bat. The 30-year-old said (as quoted by ESPNcricinfo):
"Where I stayed, everyone said I could mimic cricketers' actions really well. So people started saying, 'Act like dada, act like dada'. So, playing like him in my early days, copying his style, Ganguly's style got ingrained in my game. But when I started playing seriously then it was Gambhir, because I grew up watching him bat from close quarters at the club. So just from seeing him bat in the flesh, I have picked up a lot from him."
Rana further added that captaining the Delhi side, with Gambhir playing his last year of domestic cricket, was the best feeling for him. The current Team India head coach stepped down as Delhi captain in 2018 and handed over the reins to Rana.
"If you ask me about the biggest achievement of my career, I will say it was being appointed Delhi captain. The best feeling was to see Gambhir playing his last year [of domestic cricket] while I was captain. I played my first year under him and he played his last year under me. Gambhir had said that I was the right candidate to lead Delhi. Imagine such statements coming from your idol. This had to be one of the biggest moments of my life," the 30-year-old had commented.
Having been released by KKR ahead of the IPL 2025 auction, Rana was purchased by Rajasthan Royals (RR) for ₹4.20 crore.
Nitish Rana's record for KKR
Rana is at No. 4 on the list of leading run-getters for KKR. In 90 matches for the franchise from 2018 to 2024, he scored 2,199 runs at an average of 28.19 and a strike rate of 136.32, with 14 fifties. He was even appointed captain of the franchise for the 2023 season after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out due to injury.