Nitish Rana optimistic about making a mark in Sri Lanka tour if selected

Delhi’s middle-order batter Nitish Rana is confident of grabbing his opportunity with both hands if the selectors name him in the squad to tour Sri Lanka. The hard-hitting left-hand batter has made a name for himself by consistently performing well in the domestic tournaments and in the Indian Premier League playing for Kolkata Knight Riders.

The BCCI is likely to announce a strong B team for the tour to Sri Lanka with several of its first-choice players traveling to England to play a series. Rana is confident of making an impact in the white-ball series starting July if he gets selected.

The 26-year-old batter had a decent run in the 14^th season of IPL scoring a total of 201 runs at a healthy strike rate of over 140. Rana was asked to open the batting in the KKR team and he often provided the team with blistering starts in the power play which enabled the likes of Shubman Gill, Eoin Morgan, and Rahul Tripathi to play more freely.

Nitish Rana feels ready to play international cricket

Rana who has scored 2,266 runs from 38 first-class games is confident of translating his success to the international level too.  “It is there at the back of my mind that my name should come (in the squad) and I am prepared for that because I feel my name would come,” Nitish told in an interview when asked whether he is hoping for a call-up, as quoted by firstpost.com.

“If you pick and see my record for the last three years in white-ball – be it domestic or the IPL, I have performed well and I feel that I will get the reward for it today or tomorrow.”

The 27-year-old has played for close to three to four years for the KKR team but has failed to notch scores of above 500 in the tournament. Rana in fact started the IPL 2021 well before he failed to get going in the last three matches before the tournament was suspended.

“I added many skills mentally in my game and normal life. I felt that in the last 2-3 years, I used to become very happy that I am performing well and it should continue, but the hunger to score runs used to finish,” he concluded.