April 11, 2021, will arguably be one of the most celebrated days in the history of Kolkata Knight Riders as they recorded their 100th IPL victory after defeating the Sunrisers Hyderabad by 10 runs in the opening encounter of the 14th Indian Premier League.

Nitish Rana was the star of the show with the bat for the boys in Purple and Gold as he smashed 80 off 56 balls to help the team post a formidable total of 187 runs in the first innings, thus earning him special praises from skipper Eoin Morgan.

"I am delighted for Nitish, a match-winning innings today. The thing that impressed me the most about his innings is the method which he used. He played aggressively and always took up positive options which did set up our batting innings," he said.

The southpaw looked in sublime touch all through the course of the innings even on a wicket that was a little sluggish. "His game is in really good touch, and we witnessed that today on a wicket that was probably not as good as he made it look to bat on," he added.

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While most of the batting action in this game revolved around the Rana and Rahul Tripathi, the skipper oozed confidence in the potential of the unit, saying, "One of the many strengths we have in our squad is having two of the most talented guys in the country (Shubman Gill and Rana) opening the batting for us.

Tripathi, today at three, played beautifully, and the middle order that we have is extremely versatile. When DK plays like that or Andre plays in a way that he can play, it's a very destructive batting unit that has the potential to win you matches,"

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Defending a total can never be easy in this format of the game; however, the Knights were bolstered by Harbhajan Singh's inclusion in this high voltage clash. Even though he bowled just one over, the off-spinner used his experience to mentor the bowling unit all through this thrilling encounter.

"He was given the first over after a lot of analysis. Unfortunately the catch (of David Warner) was dropped. The role that he played from there on, obviously using his experience and speaking to other players when needed was outstanding. Since he's arrived in the camp, he has been at more energy than anybody I have seen in the squad. It's fantastic that he is doing that, and he is bowling beautifully, so hopefully, that continues," he concluded.