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Nitish Rana turns 30 today, December 27. The Kolkata Knight Riders batter has had a good domestic career. He started his IPL journey with Mumbai Indians in 2016. Despite his good performances, especially in the 2017 IPL-winning season, he was released by the Mumbai-based franchise.
Rana was bought by KKR in the 2018 mega auction for ₹3.40 crore and also in the 2022 mega auction for ₹8 crore. He has established himself as one of the consistent players for the two-time IPL champions. The left-handed batter also captained the side in Shreyas Iyer's absence in IPL 2023.
Despite being one of the star batters for his IPL franchise, international opportunities have been few and far between for Rana. He has just played one ODI and two T20Is for India, against a second-string Sri Lankan team in 2021.
However, he has established himself as a mature cricketer over the last few years and should be on the selector's radar. Here are three reasons why India must consider Nitish Rana for their T20 World Cup plans:
#1 Nitish Rana is a consistent run-getter in the IPL
It's tough to be consistent in a short format like T20s, but Nitish Rana's track record in the IPL has been just that. Since his breakthrough season for MI in 2017, when he scored 333 runs in 13 games, he has registered 300+ runs in subsequent seasons.
In fact, he has scored 350+ runs in the last four seasons. The KKR star's most productive campaign was in IPL 2023, amassing 413 runs in 14 games, crossing the 400-run mark in a season for the first time.
#2 Rana has devoloped his bowling
Nitish Rana started his playing career as a batter who could bowl a bit. However, he has now developed himself into a proper batting all-rounder. He's very capable of bowling a couple of overs in a T20 game, especially if the pitch is conducive to spin-bowling.
There are not many Indian batters who bowl in the current setup. While Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja are the go-to all-rounder options when available, only Tilak Varma and Yashasvi Jaiswal have rolled their arms over among the new generation of batters in the Indian team. Rana is a much better bowler than them.
#3 India need to play batters who can bowl
India have opted for a 6-1-4 approach recently, which means six batters, one all-rounder (Jadeja) and four bowlers. This proved quite successful in the 2023 World Cup after Hardik's injury, but it's a very risky strategy to play with only five bowling options.
The Men in Blue must field a couple of batters who can bowl a bit. That will allow them to play an extra batter and give the team more bowling options as well. If Jaiswal, Tilak and Rana are groomed well, they could all bowl a couple of overs for India at the T20 World Cup.
Playing Jaiswal as the opener and one of Varma and Rana in the middle order will allow the team to line up with Hardik, Jadeja and just three bowlers instead of the usual four. The team's batting depth will also increase as a result. Hence, Nitish Rana should be considered for India's T20 World Cup plans.
