Nitish Rana has been mostly seen in the role of an accumulator in the middle order to take on the spinners. But the left-handed batsman has often stepped on the gas when his team needed acceleration.

The Delhi based player joined Kolkata Knight Riders in 2018 and has been retained ever since for his useful contributions. With a strike rate of over 146 in the 2019 edition and an average of 34.40, Nitish has often been touted as one of the most reliable players in the KKR line-up. Even though we have mostly seen him in the middle order, Nitish didn’t disappoint when he was asked to open the innings against Sunrisers Hyderabad last year during a daunting 182-run chase. His quickfire 68 off 47 balls set the tone for KKR.

Nitish’s crucial 63 off 34 (SR 185.29, 6sx7, 4sx2) against Kings XI Punjab was a classic example of how an innings should be paced. He showed extreme level-headedness by going slow to start with and then firing all cylinders. His first 22 runs came off 21 balls and then we experienced a BOOM! In no time he rushed to 50 and minted 41 runs off his final 13 balls.

Nitish is also a part-time off-break bowler, and even though he is not regular, he has three wickets under his belt from the last season of IPL.