On April 28th, 2022, Nitish Rana of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) made history in the Indian Premier League (IPL) when he became the first player to score at least one 50 in all six batting positions for an IPL team.
The 41st IPL 2022 match was played at Wankhede Stadium between Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals (DC), with DC winning by four wickets. While KKR struggled in the first innings, Nitish Rana scored 57 runs off 34 balls (3 fours and 4 sixes) at the no.6 position, helping KKR to a first-innings total of 146/9 in 20 overs.
It was Rana’s first 50+ score in his IPL career at the no.6 batting position. While it was his 15th half-century in his IPL career, the left-handed batsman hit his 11th fifty for KKR.
Rana joined KKR before the 2018 IPL season and has played a critical and versatile role as a batsman in the team. Rana has batted in all six top batting positions for KKR, and he has now hit at least one half-century in each of these positions.
Rana is the first player in IPL history to have at least one 50-plus score in each of the top six batting positions.
Nitish Rana has 50+ runs in each batting position for KKR.
| Batting position | Number of 50+ scores |
| No.1 | 2 |
| No.2 | 3 |
| No.3 | 1 |
| No.4 | 2 |
| No.5 | 2 |
| No.6 | 1 |
Nitish Rana: KKR Career
Nitish Rana has already appeared in 69 matches for KKR, where he has scored 1583 runs at an average of 26.83. While he is the sixth-most prolific run-scorer for KKR, he is also tied for third on the team’s list of most 50+ scores.
Nitish Rana Joins IPL Players Club with 100 Sixes
Nitish Rana
Nitish Rana joined the ranks of 28 other Indian Premier League players who hit a century of sixes on Thursday (IPL). In the 17th over of the game, he smashed a Lalit Yadav delivery over the ropes to achieve this feat during the 41st match of the ongoing IPL 2022 against Delhi Capitals.
Rana played an entertaining knock of 57 in 34 balls, consisting of three fours and four sixes, before being dismissed by Mustafizur Rahman. In the cash-rich league, the batsman now has a total of 102 sixes.
Nitish Rana Biography
Nitish Rana, a left-handed batsman from Delhi, grew up playing cricket at Feroz Shah Kotla and has made a handful of First-Class appearances. In his early days, he shared the field with Delhi teammates such as Mithun Manhas, Rajat Bhatia, and Shikhar Dhawan.
Rana has made significant contributions in 50-over and 20-over domestic cricket. He is also a right-arm off-break bowler who could be useful in a pinch.
He was drafted by the Mumbai Indians in 2015 and continues to play for the team. In his first season, he was only used as a substitute in the IPL. Rana credits much of his success to his coach, Sanjay Bharadwaj, who has been by his side through thick and thin.
The success mantra of Nitish Rana
So far this season, the left-handed batsman has been playing in the middle order for his team, the Kolkata Knight Riders. He believes that with the lower-order batsmen scoring runs, the top-order batsmen have more freedom to play shots of their choosing, allowing them to be successful in the early stages of the IPL 2022.
Kolkata is currently atop the table and will face the Delhi Capitals at Brabourne Stadium on Sunday. Kolkata has adopted a high-attacking approach under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer and with Coach Brendon McCullum at the helm, which has resulted in Andre Russell and Pat Cummins playing incredible knocks to lead the side to victory.
According to Rana, the atmosphere in the locker room and the mindset with which his team is playing the game are both important. Overall, if fans see batsmen at numbers six, seven, and eight, it gives the top-order a free hand in terms of what type of shots they can play. For example, he mentioned Andre Russell and stated that in one match, Russell played an unbelievable knock, and in another match, Pat Cummins did the same. So they have a free hand, which he believes is the reason for KKR’s success.
When asked about the difficulty of batting at different positions for Kolkata, Rana stated that there is none because they are all professional players who must fulfil whatever the team demands. His role was different last year, and it is different this time. Rana is content to play wherever he is given the opportunity and is willing to bat in any situation.
This will also be Kolkata’s first IPL match against left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who joined Delhi in the mega auction. Rana, who has 39 runs in four matches, also stated that he is only one innings away from resuming his form.
As a result, the team has no strategy for dealing with Kuldeep. They will bat following the rules of the game. Rana will try to apply himself, and in the previous five-six seasons, he has had the habit of starting well, but he hasn’t gotten off to a good start this year. Rana is only one inning away, and she is confident that the inning will come today.
In the end
Very few batsmen in recent years have adapted to the demands and rigour of T20 cricket as well as Nitish Rana has in the IPL.
Rana, in particular, has shifted around in the batting order since his debut with the Knight Riders in 2018. He batted from No. 1 to No. 6 and scored fifty in each position, adjusting to the match situation as needed. His two half-centuries in Chennai last season came while opening the batting, but his two fifties this season have come while batting in the middle order at No. 5 against Sunrisers Hyderabad and No. 6 against Delhi Capitals.
As a free-flowing batsman, he has frequently had to tailor his mindset and technique to the match situation, playing the roles of anchor and aggressor. And we, as the die-hard fans of the IPL, will hope to see more new techniques, runs and records from this batsman. Good luck to Nitish Rana in his future.
