Nitish Rana stated that since the IPL (Indian Premier League) Governing Council revealed the retention guidelines last month, he has not heard from the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) organization. Teams will have the opportunity to keep six players apiece from the mega auction, which will take place ahead of the IPL season the following year.
With the Right To Match card, they have the option to either directly retain or buy back from the highest bidder. KKR signed Rana for the first time at the 2018 IPL auction. He went back up for auction before to IPL 2022, and the Kolkata-based team again won him.
The southpaw made it apparent that he wants to continue playing for the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned team, even if he hasn’t heard back from KKR yet. Notably, Knight Riders ended a decade-long drought by winning the IPL earlier this year. The three-time champions had a lot of players that played well, so it would be hard for them to pick just six guys to keep.
“I have spent the last seven years working for KKR. In an interview with TOI, Rana stated, “KKR management has the final say over whether or not to keep me.
“I haven’t heard from anyone by phone yet. Every year, I have scored runs for KKR, and they will keep me if they think I’m valuable. “I would like to be a player for KKR,” he continued.
What is the history of Nitish Rana’s performance with KKR?
Nitish Rana joins KKR in 2018 after making his IPL debut for the Mumbai Indians in 2016 and amassed 304 runs from 15 games. He scored 344, 352, 383, 361, and 413 runs in each of the next five seasons. He did, however, only play in a few games this season due to a finger injury he sustained in KKR’s opening game.
The Delhi native has played for the Knights in 90 games overall, amassing 2,199 runs with a strike rate of 136.32 and an average of 28.19.
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In addition, Rana has 14 half-centuries for KKR. In 2023, he led the squad once again after Shreyas Iyer was sidelined with a back injury. It will be fascinating to see if Rana is still employed by the Knights for the following campaign.