'Need lot of character to give performance like this in our situation'

BENGALURU: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Nitish Rana on Wednesday heaped praise on his team and said the KKR players showed a lot of character to script a stunning performance, registering a 21-run victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

The two-time IPL Champions got a much-needed win, after four losses in a row, as they beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in the ongoing IPL 2023 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

A blistering 56(29) from Jason Roy and an attacking 48 off 21 from captain Nitish Rana powered KKR to 200/5. Varun Chakaravarthy (3/27) and Suyash Sharma (2/30) then spun a web around the RCB batters as KKR restricted RCB to 179/8 and won by 21 runs.

Rana stated that he had always emphasised that if the team played as a unit, the outcome would always be in their favour. The KKR captain lauded his players and praised their character following the win over RCB. The southpaw stated that KKR believed they would recover and thanked the bowlers for their efforts.

“Last 3-4 matches I’ve been saying the same thing at the toss – if we play well collectively, result will be in our favour. You need a lot of character in the dressing room to give a performance like this in our situation. The belief has always been there that we’ll bounce back. We wanted to put a score on the board. Felt like it would turn in the second innings because there wasn’t much dew. It didn’t turn a lot but we bowled well,” Nitish Rana said at the post-match presentation.

The KKR captain also hailed young spinner Suyash Sharma, who is building his reputation. Suyash, according to Rana, always puts his hand up and accepts responsibility.

“Whenever I’ve spoken to him (Suyash Sharma), he has always put his hand up. He always says I’ll do the job. We tell him to not look at who is batting against you, just focus on your own bowling,” Rana added.