'Tera wajah se KKR k eliminate hone ka time aa gayla hai' - Fans slam Nitish Rana for saying 'koi farak nahin padta' after bowling '26-run' first over against RR in IPL 2023

Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Nitish Rana brought himself to bowl the first over against Rajasthan Royals. The idea behind this was to exploit the slow surface on offer although the team had three spinners. This decision proved horribly wrong as Yashasvi Jaiswal hit two sixes and three fours which killed the game for KKR as they were trying to defend 150 runs.

This has attracted a lot of criticism as the fans feel that Rana shouldn't have bowled the first over. After all, the team had spinners like Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, and Suyash Sharma. Talking about the Knight Riders' batting, they struggled against Yuzvendra Chahal who took four wickets. Meanwhile, Rana said that he didn't fail rather Jaiswal did well.

“He was batting well throughout the tournament. Bahut saari cheezein jab aapke favour mein nahin jaati toh duniya aapko bahut kuch bolti hai, mere ko usse zyada fark nahin padhta  I don’t get affected by it>. But credit to him. He started attacking from the first ball. It was his day today,” Rana told host broadcaster Star Sports Network. 

Nitish Rana bringing himself on was a poor tactical decision: Tom Moody

After the game, the former Sunrisers Hyderabad coach praised Jaiswal but criticized Rana's tactical decision.

"I liked the approach from Jaiswal. He was like I am not going to let you settle down and play that card against us," Tom Moody told Star Sports.

"Secondly, that is such a poor tactical decision. He got so many better options in that line-up. If he wanted to bowl off-spin against Jaiswal in the first over, I liked the ideaâ€æ It's a good idea tactically, but Chakravarthy and Narine are your first two on the list. Not Nitish Rana, who is a part-time off-spinner. It's a big mistake and it took the whole gas off the balloon," he added.

This is how Twitter reacted

KKR had 7 bowling options still Rana bowled the first over 😂😂😂

— Arman Patel (@discplinedtrder) May 11, 2023

Did nothing wrong it was just an experiment by a captain. He was trying to do something different that sometimes unsettle batters too. Guys could appreciate this if he got successful by picking 1 wicket in that over.
Just a game guys, Nitish did a lot good as captain in KKR.

— sumit (@sumitfrnz) May 11, 2023

How coach agreed to Bowl first over. . were they have 3spinners in they line he is part-time bolwer. Idea was right bringing spinner on first over but not nitish Rana

— BABU (@BABU62057903) May 12, 2023

Ha ha same thing I am discussing that why he bowled 1st over. Ye kya bahut bda off spinner hai jo left hander ko new ball se dalne laga.

— Indian (@IARP111) May 11, 2023

Rana ji thought he would be an out of syllabus but jaiswal had prepared out of the syllabus questions too 😂

— Anti-Idiot (@Iam_Anti_idiot) May 12, 2023

That was not overconfidence but I would say confidence on oneself. KKR were already short of runs and if this move had got him wickets, people would have been calling it a masterstroke.

— Rony (@lmaodedman) May 11, 2023

A message to rana : don’t believe what they say
Reference *THE KERALA STORY*

— ☮️ (@itz_ayushh) May 12, 2023

Now his boss will call and say ur captaincy is crap

— Rajesh Kumar (@makingindiawork) May 11, 2023

When RR comes for batting I feel like match started from 20th over then 19th so on...

— Akii Wandhare (@akiidwandhare) May 11, 2023

And won the match for opposition team there and there,, that was some impact as a captain. Well done pal.

— Uday Bhat (@udaybhat2) May 11, 2023