Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) batsman Nitish Rana has on Friday (April 30) opened up about his team’s tactic of using the “code word” strategy in one of their Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) contest against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on April 27.
During the 21st match of the ongoing IPL 2021, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) analyst Nathan Leamon was seen holding a cryptic '54' placard in the middle overs of Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) batting in Ahmedabad – the game eventually won by KKR by 5 wickets against Punjab earlier this week.
Well, many tried to decode the message that the management was trying to convey to their captain Eoin Morgan, but no one could find out what the code meant and now Rana revealed that none of the KKR players know about the team's contentious "code word" strategy.
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The opener further said that the code-sharing is exclusive between Morgan and Leamon while the rest of the KKR players are also trying to decode it.
Rana said of the KKR’s “code word” strategy against PBKS: “No, that's just between the captain and the analyst. Even we don't know yet, we are also trying to figure out what it is.”
The southpaw further added, “We have reached the mid-phase of the tournament and if we score 2-3 wins it will be great for us because the points table has been working like that as well. So, hopefully, we will win this game and come upwards on the table.”
At the moment, Rana is KKR's top scorer in the ongoing IPL 14 with 188 runs in 7 games so far, but he is determined to continue his form with the bat till the end of the tournament as he always starts well but more often he fails to carry forward his form in the T20 league.
He signed off by saying, “Absolutely, because I always start every season on a good note but let myself down mid-season. I will try not to allow it to happen this year because it has been repeating for the last 2-3 years. I want to make sure that I grow as a player and I will try to not repeat the same mistakes.”
(With Sportskeeda Inputs)
