IPL 2021: Have the doors for National Selection opened for Nitish Rana? Here is what Aakash Chopra believes


IPL 2021: Have the doors for National Selection opened for Nitish Rana? Here is what Aakash Chopra believes

Nitish Rana

Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed Sunrisers Hyderabad by 10 runs in their first match of the Vivo IPL 2021 on Sunday. With this victory, Kolkata registered their 100th IPL win becoming the third team to do so after Mumbai Indians (120 wins) and Chennai Super Kings (106 wins).  Nitish Rana was the star of the show with his blistering 80 runs off just 56 balls which earned him the Player of the Match award.

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Indian commentator Aakash Chopra was in awe of the wonderful innings showcased by Rana and is in high hopes that the doors for Indian Selection will soon open up for him if he continues to perform in the same way. Chopra is an active member of social media and regularly gives his insights and reviews about the ongoing matches. On his Youtube Channel, he was seen singing the praises of Nitish Rana.

Aakash Chopra speaks on Nitish Rana’s national team chances

Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi
Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi during yesterday’s match

Aakash Chopra spoke about Nitish Rana’s performance firstly on his YouTube channel. “After KKR was asked to bat first, Nitish Rana batted brilliantly. If he continues to perform at the highest level, a call-up to the Indian team might not be far away. There’s a chance here,” Chopra said

We have seen England playing an aggressive brand of cricket from ball one since Morgan has become their skipper, we saw a similar approach adopted by KKR batters in the last game with Rana playing the role of enforcer to his comrade Shubman Gill. The partnership between Rana and Gill was 53 runs in just seven overs with the contribution of the latter being only 15 runs.

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“When playing on this pitch, it is critical to exploit the new ball. Nitish Rana was racing ahead of Shubman Gill and was not afraid to take chances. Whenever he opens, his graph goes up and down, with alternating 80s and zeros. When he departed, the team’s score was 160, with his batting accounting for half of the runs,” Chopra continued.

After the departure of Gill, Rana and Tripathi added 93 runs together in the middle and took the game away from Sunrisers. During the process, they also brought up their individual fifties.

“Until Rana and Rahul batted, it seemed to be a completely one-sided affair, with KKR nearing to about 200 runs. Both batted extremely well,” Chopra said.

Chopra ended things by hailing how well Rana batted against spinners as well as pacers. He believes that Rana is a very decent player with a bright future ahead of him. 

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“Nitish Rana struck a boundary on the first ball and kept hitting fours and sixes against both spin and fast bowling. He’s really a pretty good player,” Chopra signed off.

However, it might be difficult to get into the T2O squad of the Indian team as the inclusion of Surya Kumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan has already created chaos at the top order. We saw Virat Kohli changing his position to fit in these players. But, Rana should keep continuing the hard work and deliver for his team on a regular basis.

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