"Whenever India played, fights were inevitable" - RR batter's interesting revelation about family amid IPL 2025
Rajasthan Royals (RR) batter Nitish Rana recalled the divide within his family (between himself, his father, and his brother) over three Indian legends during his childhood days. Rana revealed that he was a huge fan of former India captain Sourav Ganguly, while his father and brother were massive fans of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, respectively.
The trio are three of India's top five all-time leading run-scorers across formats. Tendulkar is India's and the overall leading run-scorer in international cricket with 34,357 runs. Meanwhile, Dravid is India's third-highest run scorer with 24,064 runs and Ganguly is fifth with 18,433 runs.
Recalling fights within his family over the three batting legends, Rana said on the FanCode podcast (via Hindustan Times):
"Dad was a huge Sachin Tendulkar fan. I loved Sourav Ganguly and my brother liked Rahul Dravid sir. So, in our house, whenever India played, fights were inevitable. Someone or the other out of the three of us had to get upset or angry. Because it was very rare that all three of them scored together."
He added:
"What used to happen with me was because Rahul sir was going through a career peak, I and my brother had a lot of fights. We could obviously say nothing to our father. Things like 'Your player did not score runs, mine did'. I would get very agitated and cry in my room thinking 'How did Sourav Ganguly get. Not today, I needed to show my brother'. On the other hand, Rahul Dravid would score 100s after 100s."
"So my childhood memories are these. My first Indian tour was with Rahul sir. If I look at this connecting it to my childhood, it's a great achievement. Where I would be fighting regarding him as a child to playing under him. These things are very close to my heart," he concluded.
Team India achieved incredible success in the 2000s, with the batting trio at the peak of their careers. They held Australia to a 1-1 draw in Australia in the BGT 2003-04 and triumphed in the 2002 Champions Trophy, among other incredible wins.
Nitish Rana powers RR to their first win of IPL 2025
![Nitish Rana played several delightful shots in RR's win over CSK [Credit: Getty]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2025/04/89aa1-17436512266459-1920.jpg?w=500)
Cut to the present, Nitish Rana overcame a poor start to his IPL 2025 campaign with a blistering knock in the side's most recent outing against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). After scoring a combined 19 runs in RR's first two matches - both defeats - the southpaw dominated the CSK attack on March 30.
Rana scored 81 off just 36 deliveries to help RR post a massive 182/9 in their 20 overs. His blistering knock included 10 boundaries and five maximums, with his half-century coming off just 21 balls.
In response, CSK could only manage 176/6 in 20 overs, as RR bounced back from successive losses to complete their first win of the season by six runs.
Rana will be back in action when RR take on the Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Saturday, April 5.