Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ace batsman Nitish Rana expressed his anxiety that he couldn’t sleep because of this. Nitish Rana was injured due to a finger injury and had benched for almost more than a month. Kolkata Knight Riders have officially qualified for playoffs after defeating Mumbai Indians (MI).
Kolkata Knight Riders are in red-hot form and after qualifying still two league games remain so to finish in the top 2 they will look to win both games. Skipper Shreyas Iyer had a fantastic season his captaincy has proved that they are the contenders for the final of IPL 2024, and can’t say may be crowned as champions also.
Nitish Rana feels anxiety
Nitish Rana who had led the team in 2022 and 2023 but couldn’t qualify for playoffs. This season he suffered an injury after the first match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he was ruled out for almost a month and later he made a comeback against Mumbai Indians on May 11. Kolkata Knight Riders sealed their spot in playoffs against Mumbai Indians in a must-win match. Nitish Rana played an important knock of 33 runs in 23 balls. He was adjourned as Player of the Match. He said in a post-match presentation that he felt anxiety and added some more things:
“For the first 20-22 days I didn’t even touch the bat due to injury. After that, I began batting with one hand and did whatever I could. When I was sitting alone, I would visualize my innings. To be honest, I couldn’t sleep the whole night, it felt as if I was going to play the first game of the IPL because I was suddenly included in the team after 10 great games. Hence, I slept at around 8:30 am as I couldn’t sleep all night due to anxiety. These are the things which keep that hunger inside of you alive,” said Nitish Rana.
Nitish Rana speaks on Chandrakant Pandit and Gautam Gambhir
Nitish Rana later also said how everyone understands themselves and builds trust for each other so the team stays strong, if no trust is built then you can’t play as a team. Head Coach Chandrakant Pandit and Mentor Gautam Gambhir are the sources of the team who stay strong and play fearless cricket. He said:
“The difference this year as compared to the previous four or five years is according to me the belief that we have in each other. There’s a trust in the dressing room where every player takes the onus on oneself if someone fails. The same set of bowlers let the opposition chase down 260 and we had the same attack today. So, it’s the belief to instill confidence in each other is a lot more than previous years and it’s all because of Chandu Sir (Chandrakant Pandit) and Gauti Bhaiya (Gautam Gambhir),” said Rana.