Nitish Rana put on a show with the bat as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 10 runs in their IPL 2021 opener at Chepauk on Sunday (April 11).
Opening the innings, Rana slammed 80 off 56 balls to propel KKR to 187/6 in 20 overs. In the process, the southpaw shared a 93-run stand for the second wicket with Rahul Tripathi, who scored 53 off 29 balls.
"Feels good to start the season on a high note. I will try to carry this form and help the side as much as possible. The wicket was fresh so I played cautiously in the first few overs and then when I saw the ball is in my zone, I started hitting them. I was trying to hit the loose balls," Rana said in a video posted by the official website of the IPL.
After completing his fifty, Rana removed his gloves and performed a celebration using his three fingers.
Talking about his gesture, the left-hander revealed that it is inspired by the Punjabi song ‘Brown Munde’.
"It was for my friends. My friends love the song Brown Munde and before the season began I told them when I do this (celebration), it will mean that we all are brown munde," Rana told teammate Harbhajan Singh in the video.
Coming to the match, Knight Riders managed to restrict Sunrisers to 177/5 despite half-centuries from Manish Pandey (61* off 44 balls) and Jonny Bairstow (55 off 40 balls).
Prasidh Krishna (2-35), Shakib-Al-Hasan (1-34), Pat Cummins (1-30) and Andre Russell (1-32) were among the wickets for KKR.
Kolkata Knight Riders will take on defending champions Mumbai Indians in their next game on Tuesday (April 13).
