Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) player Nitish Rana created ripples in the third match of Indian Premier League (IPL) after taking the wickets of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli in consecutive deliveries. First, he got the wicket of De Villiers after getting hit for a six and then bowled a yorker to knock over Kohli’s stumps. Rana’s animated send-off to Kohli made news as well. However, Rana idolises Kohli, like many youngsters do, and got rewarded for his performance.
Kohli gifted a bat to Rana after the match. The 24-year-old shared a photo on his Instagram account, holding the bat.
Here’s what the youngster had to say about taking two huge wickets which turned the course of the game around –
I had nothing to lose, but everything to gain. I saw the ball was gripping well, if I bowled in right areas I might get wickets. I backed myself and luckily I got the two big wickets. It was very important to get those batsmen out at that stage,” Rana told reporters at the post match press conference.
— InUth (@InUthdotcom) April 8, 2018
Rana bowled just one over, took two wickets and gave away 11 runs. He did well with the bat as well, sharing a crucial 55-run partnership with KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik and helped his team cruise towards victory. Rana scored 34 runs from 25 deliveries, including 2 fours and 2 sixes. He was caught in front of the stumps by Washington Sundar.
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He was roped in by KKR for Rs 3.4 crore in the IPL 2018 auctions after a bidding war with Mumbai Indians (MI). In IPL 2017, Rana scored 333 runs from 13 games at an average of 30.27 and a strike rate of 126.13, including three half-centuries.
