Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batsman Nitish Rana spoke about the atmosphere in the dressing room after the loss against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season. Nitish Rana stated that only a few teammates had dinner after failing to defend a total of 261 runs.
The Knight Riders clinched the first playoff spot after an 18-run victory over the Mumbai Indians (MI) in a rain-interrupted match in Kolkata on Saturday, May 11. The Calcutta team leads the standings with 18 points in 12 games. They are likely to finish in the top two places with two more games left.
Earlier, the Shreyas Iyer-led team posted a massive target of 262 runs at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on April 26. However, the Punjab Kings team successfully chased down the target with eight wickets and as many balls to spare. He scored the most successful chase in the shortest format of the game.
We win together and lose together – Nitish Rana
In the post-match press conference, Nitish Rana highlighted the camaraderie between teammates, stating that they win and lose together. The middle-order batsman said they have a positive atmosphere in the locker room, something they have been lacking in recent seasons.
“We felt very bad that day. I witnessed in the dressing room, only three or four had dinner that night.” Frog said.
“We win and lose together; that’s the atmosphere we have in the locker room. It’s very important to put your hands on each other’s shoulders, and I feel like that’s been missing for the last year or two.” he added.
Nitish Rana missed ten consecutive matches this season due to injury. The left-handed batsman suffered a finger injury during KKR’s season opener against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). He returned to the team during the match against MI, where he scored 33 runs off 23 deliveries.
KKR failed to qualify for the playoffs in 2022 and 2023. Their next match is against the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday, May 13. They will face Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their last league match. at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on May 19.
We didn’t get that momentum – Piyush Chawla
Mumbai Indians spinner Piyush Chawla stated that they did not gain momentum throughout the season, which led to their disappointing performances. He acknowledged that they didn’t deliver results as a group and added that the pitchers and hitters never got their act together.
“T20 is all about momentum, and we didn’t get that momentum from the beginning. Some days we bowled well, but our batting didn’t work and sometimes our batsmen did well, but the bowlers ended up losing runs.” Chawla said.
“As a team we have failed in some matches and we have to accept it as a team. We have a brilliant line-up, but things didn’t fall into place. Today we started brilliantly too, but that period of Narine and Varun really made the difference. You have to give credit to their players “. he added.
Also Read: GT vs KKR: ‘I didn’t even touch the bat’ – Nitish Rana recalls his struggles before returning in IPL 2024