Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batsman Nitish Rana is a huge fan of Sourav Ganguly and he revealed how his family was always divided over cricket. His father was an admirer of Sachin Tendulkar, and his brother loved Rahul Dravid.
The argument in the family over their favorite players was common for Rana. The 26-year-old was so sensitive about Ganguly that he used to cry for him.
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"We used to have a fight in our family. My brother was a Rahul Dravid fan, I was a Sourav Ganguly fan and my father adored Sachin Tendulkar. My father would tell me something every time Ganguly used to get out. I would run to my room and lock it and then cry and get angry," Nitish Rana said.
Rana was a Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) fan and he used to go to Arun Jaitley Stadium to watch Virender Sehwag play. Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar was the face of Delhi at that time and he attracted him too.
"I never thought that I can be a part of IPL. For 4 or 5 seasons I used to got to Feroz Shah Kotla stadium to watch matches because I liked Akshay Kumar and he was with Delhi Daredevils back then. I used to like AB de Villiers and even Gautam Gambhir was in Delhi then. Virender Sehwag was also there. I used to think if one hasn't seen them play, then they have seen nothing."
Nitish started his IPL career playing for Mumbai Indians. His performance in domestic cricket was good and he expected to get picked in IPL, but when his friends broke the news during a match, he couldn't believe it.
"When I called for drinks, I was told that I've been picked by Mumbai Indians. I couldn't - in fact, didn't - believe it. Perhaps my friend was taking a joke too far. And then, when he insisted, I knew he wasn't kidding," he told Cricbuzz.
India great Sachin Tendulkar had his eyes on Rana and that filled the youngster with confidence. "My friend overheard a conversation between Sachin Tendulkar and the Mumbai Indians manager Rahul Sanghvi, and told me that I had caught Sachin sir's notice. He asked 'Who's this boy?'. He had clearly taken notice of me. That felt really good."
Ricky Ponting was with Mumbai Indians when Rana got into the team. The former Australia cricketer passed on some helpful advice to him which played a big role in shaping his career.
"Just don't defend. You have the ability to hit the ball. Just hit the ball. Hard," Ponting had told Rana. The southpaw ended up scoring a 36-ball 70 in the next match against Gujarat Lions.
(WITH CRICBUZZ INPUTS)
