Published 12:47 IST, May 21st 2023
'I am feeling...': KKR skipper Nitish Rana reacts to his team's dismal IPL 2023 outing
Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana was left unimpressed with its team's performance in Indian Premier League 2023 and said they will come back strong.
Nitish Rana-led Kolkata Knight Riders fell short by one run against Lucknow Super Giants in match 68 of the IPL 2023 played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and also got eliminated from the tournament. Kolkata Knight Riders were chasing a total of 177 in the KKR vs LSG match but due to the failure of the middle order, the team wasn't able to chase down the target and ended up being on the losing side after the match concluded.
Nitish Rana unimpressed with the team's performance
Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana was also left unimpressed with the team's performance and also they brutally missed the absence of Shreyas Iyer this season. While talking and reviewing KKR's performance in IPL 2023 Rana said after the match, "I definitely agree that the result did not go in our favor but there are many positives about this season. There are many things to improve but next season we will come as a better team. I feel that if you want to compete in the best league in the world and finish in the top four, you need to be good in all three departments. You have to win back-to-back good matches and I am feeling bad as a captain because our team had the ability to finish that top four but if we work on our mistakes then next season will be better."
KKR skipper Nitish Rana also lavished praise on Rinku Singh
"I think I have held the mic 14 times in 14 matches, so I have only talked about Rinku and I am personally very happy because of the way his season has gone, he has worked hard and is very close to me. I don't have words to define him because the whole country knows what he has done and in such situations, if he can bat like this then he can do anything", Nitish Rana said.
Coming back to the KKR vs LSG IPL 2023 match, batting first at Eden Gardens, Lucknow Super Giants posted a score of 176/8 wherein no batsman was able to score at a high strike rate but Nicholas Pooran came in and gave the much-needed acceleration to the innings. Pooran hit 58 runs in just 30 balls and his innings included four fours and five sixes.
Chasing the target, the Kolkata Knight Riders openers Venkatesh Iyer and Jason Roy added 61 runs off 35 balls but as soon as they fell, no other KKR batsmen including the likes of Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, and Andre Russell could contribute to their team's cause. At last Rinku Singh played an unbeaten knock of 67 runs and tried to take his team victory but didn't get support from the other end and Kolkata ended up being on the losing side.
Updated 12:48 IST, May 21st 2023