IPL 2021: Team-wise one trustworthy player in the season

Kolkata Knight Riders – Nitish Rana

For KKR, Nitish Rana’s name might be a surprising pick, especially when the team has stalwarts like Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, and Dinesh Karthik, but with Morgan being a new entity and with Russell and Karthik being completely off-colour in the last season, someone like a Nitish Rana seems to be the only trustworthy pick. Even the highly rated Shubman Gill hasn’t towered when compared to his husky talent. 

Since IPL 2018, Nitish Rana has been an established member of the playing XI and has wisely been amongst the runs, especially considering how juggling KKR’s batting order has been in the past. Last year from his 14 games, Nitish amassed a total of 352 runs at a strike rate of almost 139. Overall, from his last three seasons, Rana has been a scoring batsman who averages close to 28 for KKR. 

His flexible gameplay, which allows him to bat anywhere in the top six is his biggest strength, and can equally play the game of striking hard along with accumulating singles. Also, in the recently concluded VH Trophy, Rana was the highest run-scorer for Delhi, which also raised him in contention for an India call-up. All in all, with being in rounds for India’s T20I side, Nitish Rana would himself prefer being a trustworthy candidate to grab his potential India shirt.