IPL 2021: "If he wants to get into the national team, he needs to keep producing these knocks" - Dinesh Karthik lauds Nitish Rana

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Nitish Rana played one ODI and two T20Is against SL this July, aggregating just 22 runs [Credits: Instagram]

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik hailed Nitish Rana for producing a match-winning knock against the Delhi Capitals (DC) on Tuesday. He further added that Rana needs to keep playing like this if he wants to harbor hopes of playing for India again.

While KKR got over the line with 10 balls to spare, at the heart of the victory was Nitish Rana, who top-scored with an unbeaten 36 of 27 balls. Karthik heaped praise on the maturity the 27-year-old showed today, adding it will help strengthen his case for representing the national side.

“I think he played a really sensible knock. The good thing was he was not out till the end, which was very important for us. Just the way he was able to handle pressure, take on the bowlers that he thought he could take on, and it was very nice to see him mature.

“It is very important he keeps playing innings like this because he is capable of this. The most important thing in his life is, if he wants to get into the national team and make a name for himself, he needs to keep producing these knocks, and he’s definitely got the talent to do it,” Karthik said at the post-match press conference.

While Rana paced his innings really well and adjusted as wickets fell at the other end, both he and KKR got the impetus in the 14th over bowled by off-spinner Lalit Yadav. The southpaw plundered 14 runs off his first three deliveries – including two sixes – before giving the strike to Karthik, who then accounted for 5 off the last two balls.

Asked if they had consciously decided to take the part-timer on, Dinesh Karthik attributed the 20-run over to Rana’s red-hot form. In fact, Karthik clarified that the pitch made hitting spinners more difficult compared to the quicks.

“Yeah I think it was a case of Nitish feeling good, the fact that he could take on a Lalit Yadav, so he backed himself to play those shots. At that stage, what we were discussing was we need to take the game slightly deep, we need to have the right intent – if it’s there, we will go for it; if not, make sure rotate strike if possible.

“It wasn’t an easy rotatable wicket, so to say, but there wasn’t a plan like, “Oh, we need to take on Lalit Yadav”. In fact, it was actually harder to hit the spinners than the fast bowlers,” Karthik said in response to a Sportskeeda question.

That over turned the match on its head and the equation came down to below run-a-ball, before Sunil Narine (21 off 10) and Nitish Rana applied the finishing touches to hand the Capitals their third win of the season.

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“It’s not a great T20 wicket, it’s a very challenging wicket” – Dinesh Karthik

Nitish Rana (R) and Lockie Ferguson (L) celebrate KKR's fifth win of the tournament [Credits: IPL]

Sharjah in IPL 2020 was associated with batters comfortably depositing balls on the road outside the ground. This season, however, the pitch has hardly aided hitting. In fact, DC’s innings was the first instance in IPL history that a six wasn’t hit at the venue across 20 overs.

Dinesh Karthik, too, labeled the pitch as “not great” for T20 cricket. But he opined that, on the other hand, low-scoring matches make the shortest format that much more interesting.

“I would think it’s not a great T20 wicket, it’s very slow, it’s not in favour of the batsmen, it’s completely in favour of the bowlers. It’s very slow, it stops on you, so it’s very hard for shot-making. So in a nutshell, it’s not a great T20 wicket, it’s a very challenging wicket. I enjoy low-scoring games personally, there’s a different feel to it, you don’t see it too often in T20 cricket, but Sharjah is producing that, so that’s very interesting,” Karthik elaborated.

KKR have gone a step ahead of the chasing pack; Eoin Morgan’s boys have now solidified the fourth slot with 10 points from 11 matches. The Kolkata-based outfit will next play the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dubai on Friday (October 1).

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