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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter Nitish Rana is reportedly inching closer to full fitness after a finger injury that forced him to miss the majority of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign. The two-time winners are scheduled to take on the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday, May 3.
Rana has had quite a contrasting season this time around when compared to the 2023 edition, where he led the franchise in Shreyas Iyer's absence. The left-handed batter had huge aspirations, setting himself a 600-run target for the season. He scored nine runs in KKR's season opener against the SuRrisers Hyderabad (SRH), and then injury made its untimely and unfortunate entry.
Although there is still uncertainty surrounding Rana's fitness, KKR will be presented with a selection headache if he is ready for the upcoming encounter.
This season, KKR are not among the sides that chop and change constantly primarily because they have not had the need to, and Rana will have to present a credible case to force the franchise into making a change to their red-hot batting unit. Rana offers some reputation, some form, some versatility, and some appeal. The real question is whether that is enough for KKR to introduce a tweak to their well-oiled machine.
Have KKR really missed Nitish Rana?
For perhaps the first time in recent times, KKR have a set batting lineup with a clear defined role for each candidate. Although there is an argument that the potential issues and weaknesses in that lineup have been clouded due to the openers' pristine form, there is the belief that they can fare well even if trouble brews at the top.
Nitish Rana has been tried and tested out in potentially all of the potential slots in the batting order during his time with KKR. In the current setup, he would have featured in the middle-order. Despite the fact that he is considered a vital cog in that batting unit, something which stirred KKR to shell out INR 8 crore at the 2022 auction, his absence has not been truly felt, or to put it in lighter terms - he has not been missed by KKR as much as he should have.
Once again, the form of the openers plays a big role in this, and so do other factors like how Angkrish Raghuvanshi has seamlessly settled in and KKR's immense batting depth. KKR have gone about their business, and quite prolifically too, not needing to think what if or only if we had Rana in the side.
Do KKR need to fix something that is not broken?
Taking the contributions from the openers aside, the KKR's middle order have done reasonably well. One of the biggest challenges that teams face with a successful opening pair, is that the middle order often struggles to match the tempo straightaway, and that is a non-negotiable aspect because not many over remain at that point.
RCB had struggled in this particular department in the 2023 season. Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, and Glenn Maxwell would set the game up, and then the crumbling would begin. With KKR though, that problem has not been there as the passing of the baton has been quite smooth from the top to the middle order.
The likes of Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, and Andre Russell have all done what is required of them. Raghuvanshi, in particular, has shown that he is capable of playing in multiple gears, and he will be key in the instance where the opening partnership does not work out.
Entering such a high-temp system might not be the easiest of tasks for Rana, but more than that, KKR does not have a strong enough reason to drop any of the aforementioned middle-order batters to accommodate Rana. Even the left-handed batter trait, which usually works in his favor, does not apply to this case as Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Iyer are capable lefties and already settled in the lineup.
What does Nitish Rana offer the new-age KKR setup?
Even though Rana may seem surplus to demands at this moment when everything is going smoothly for KKR, he will eventually come into the selection picture. When Phil Salt leaves for national duty after IPL's league stage, and assuming that KKR qualifies for the playoffs, the franchise will have to brace themselves for a major change.
A straight swap with Rahmanullah Gurbaz is the most direct school of thought, but a left-field option also emerges that includes Nitish Rana. Promoting Angkrish Raghuvanshi at the top of the order, frees up space in the middle for Rana to come in and also swap out an Indian pacer for an overseas pacer like Dushmanta Chameera to bolster their pace bowling, which in fact has been their weakness so far.
Imagining a scenario where Rana was not injured and Raghuvanshi was not in the scheme of things, there is no denying that the former would have been a valuable asset. His ability to take down spinners comes more than handy in the middle overs, and with the freedom that Gautam Gambhir has given the batters, he too, might have flourished like the rest.
The biggest hindrance to Rana's potential return is the fact that how settled and stable KKR's batting unit is at present, and there is a high chance that changes will only made if forced to.
