Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batsman Nitish Rana expressed his admiration for former Indian skipper, Sourav Ganguly as the latter inspired him to pick up the sport. Talking about his childhood days and connection with the game the southpaw elaborated that his batting style looks similar to Ganguly.
During a recent interview on KKR’s official website, Rana said, “Even before I started playing, my family was crazy about cricket. I was an admirer of Sourav Ganguly. There have been times when I would just lock myself up in the room and weep because Dada (Sourav) got out early. I was not even playing cricket back then. I was great at mimicking the styles of every bowler and batsman. So, everyone used to ask me to act like Dada and I used to do that happily.”
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Other than Ganguly, the former left-handed batsman recalled that Gautam Gambhir also inspired him during his childhood days as he observed the veteran for almost 12 years.
Rana reminisced, “But when I started cricket professionally, I met Gautam Gambhir. Whenever I used to go for training, I would observe him while he would bat. I don’t think my batting matches his style but if people compare, I have no issues with it. I had been closely observing him for almost 12 years. If I have imbibed even an iota of his batting skills by my observations, it is my good fortune.”
The 26-year-old middle-order batsman reckons that currently, he focussing on maintaining the consistency in his performance. However, the player is yet to find a solution to his problem. The IPL 2020 will be played in the UAE from September 19-November 10 across three venues — Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah.
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This time, both the afternoon and evening matches will be played half-an-hour earlier than usual. However, the BCCI is yet to announce the schedule of the tournament.
