IPL 2018: Nitish Rana fit for selection against the Mumbai Indians

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were dealt with a body blow when Nitish Rana was ruled out of their last game against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) owing to a back injury. He suffered the same during the run-chase against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) during KKR’s run-chase. He scored 15 runs off 10 balls and had to retired hurt following the injury.

Rinku Singh replaced the middle-order batsman against MS Dhoni’s men. However, as per reports in The Hindu, the Delhi-born batsman has been reported to be fit for selection for the Knights contest against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede. The news comes as a major boost for Dinesh Karthik’s men ahead of the all-important clash at the iconic venue.

Rana’s return- A breather for Kolkata

Rana has played a few scintillating knocks in the middle order and turned out to be a stalwart, batting at the number four slot for KKR. However, his injury meant the Shubman Gill, who batted lower down the order, was promoted to the fourth position. The move turned out to be a masterstroke as he played a match-winning hand of 57 runs off 36 balls, which helped the home team thrash the Men in Yellow.

Following Rana’s return, it would be interesting to see how the Knights’ skipper adjust their batting lineup. Rinku Singh is most likely to axed from the eleven. Kolkata have an abysmal record against Rohit Sharma’s men, having won only five out of their 21 encounters. Moreover, they have managed only a solitary victory at Mumbai’s home ground back in 2012 and need something spectacular in today’s encounter.

Rana played for the Indians last time around and emerged as the Player of the Match against the Knight Riders with a quick-fire knock of 50 runs off 29 balls. KKR would now be hoping for the youngster to fire on all cylinders and help his franchise emerge victorious and turn their fortunes around at the Wankhede.

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