Shreyas Iyer’s unfortunate injury kept him out of the IPL 2023 and forced the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to hire Nitish Rana as captain for the season.
Rana has performed reasonably well in the position, winning five out of 12 matches thus far to keep them alive in the playoff race.
However, there have been times when his strategies and tactics were completely off, which irked cricket analysts and cost his team the match.
This article will go over three instances in which Nitish Rana’s poor decisions cost KKR two points this season.
Three of Nitish Rana’s biggest mistakes as captain in IPL 2023
Sending Shardul Thakur to position three against GT in the 39th match at Eden Gardens:
It was again an unfortunate beginning for KKR, as Narayan Jagdeeshan was caught in front when he got across to flick a more full-length delivery off Mohammed Shami in the third over of the match.
KKR already had two right-handers at the top who were having trouble with GT’s leg spinners and left-arm spinners and the hard-length deliveries from pacers. However, Nitish Rana decided to send Shardul Thakur, shocking everyone.
Thakur batted at No. 1 for the first time this season. 3 in his T20 profession, with the most elevated position he had batted before that day being No. 4 in the 2021 Qualifier, where he played for the Chennai Super Lords (CSK) and enrolled a brilliant duck against the Delhi Capitals (DC).
Rana’s attempt to promote Thakur also failed when he tried to shorten a good-length delivery from Shami to mid-on, where Mohit Sharma made a great running catch to send the batsman for a four-ball duck, putting KKR in a difficult position.
Sending Anukul Roy to 3rd against the Punjab Kings in the second match in Mohali:
When you’re chasing a big score that takes almost 10 runs per over, you almost always rely on your main batsmen to save you.
However, when KKR faced the Punjab Kings, they chose a tactic that no one could comprehend.
Pursuing 192 on a belter of a wicket, with a downpour approaching, an outcome from the DLS technique was generally on the cards. And given that KKR’s openers, Mandeep Singh and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, were unable to give them a good start, it would have been prudent to send someone like Venkatesh Iyer, who had been used to opening until the previous season, to keep the innings moving along.
However, Anukul Roy, a rookie bowling all-rounder who has never batted above 5 in his entire T20 career, was sent by captain Nitish Rana, only to be bowled out by Arshdeep Singh at midwicket.
They eventually lost the match using the DLS strategy by just seven runs because this stalled the chase.
Bowling the first over against RR, Eden Gardens, 56th Match:
KKR decided to use four spinners against the Rajasthan Royals, including Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakravarthy, and Anukul Roy, on a pitch that was a little slower and provided enough assistance for the spinners.
In any case, the batsman disheartened the KKR bowling unit, as they lacked the ability to provide them with an all-out of more than 150.
Despite the subpar score, they had something to bowl at. However, Nitish Rana made the most bizarre and terrible decision, which caught everyone off guard.
Despite having four good spinners, Nitish Rana made the decision to bowl the first over of the innings. Yashasvi Jaiswal crushed Rana 6, 6, 4, 4, 2, 4 for 26 runs in the very first over of the match, effectively ending KKR’s chances of winning the match.
