Nitish Rana scored a half-century against CSK. Photo: AP
Nitish Rana ended his below-par run in IPL and slammed his first half-century in the T20 league since 2023. Coming out to bat at number 3 for Rajasthan Royals (RR), Nitish powered his team to a big total of 182/9 with a knock of 81 off just 36 balls. The left-handed batsman was on a mission to punish the bowlers and he started playing big shots right from the word go.
Batting with a strike-rate of more than 200, Nitish completed his half-century off just 21 balls. After breaching the 50-run mark with a boundary, Nitish hit a six.
Nitish, who joined RR for a huge sum of Rs 4.2 crore, came up with a cradle celebration after completing his half-century. For the unversed, Nitish is set to become a father for the first time. Nitish tied the knot with Saachi Marwah in 2019. The couple is expecting twins.
Nitish will hope to continue his form and regain his spot in Team India. He received his maiden India call-up for the Sri Lanka tour in 2021. He played one ODI and 2 T20Is in that series.
Nitish Rana's IPL journey
Nitish kicked off his IPL career with Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2015 and made his debut for them in 2016. He was part of the team which won the IPL 2017 trophy.
He moved to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL 2018 mega-auction and stayed with them till 2024. KKR re-signed him in the IPL 2022 mega-auction. Nitish made his IPL captaincy debut in 2023. He replaced Shreyas Iyer, who was ruled out of the season due to a back issue.
Nitish was Iyer's deputy in IPL 2024, which KKR won. The three-time IPL Champions shockingly released their captain and vice-captain before the IPL 2025 mega-auction. Iyer is leading Punjab Kings in IPL 2025.
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