KKR vs SRH: Nitish Rana showcases batting masterclass, hammers Umran Malik for six consecutive boundaries

Nitish Rana completely balanced the game for Kolkata Knight Riders by smashing six consecutive boundaries off Sunrisers Hyderabad's Umran Malik in the 19th match of the Indian Premier League 2023 (IPL) on Friday, April 14. Kolkata lost three early wickets with just 20 runs on the scoreboard while chasing a 229-run target but the skipper balanced the game by smashing Umran for 28 runs in the sixth over.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the first over to shock Kolkata Knight Riders. Then Marco Jansen further killed the game for the hosts with two back-to-back wickets of Venkatesh Iyer and Sunil Narine in the fourth over, with the latter coming as an impact player again.

Rana walked in to bat at no.5 to partner opener Narayan Jagadeesan and quickly cleared his intentions. He took apart Umran Malik's pace in the last over of the powerplay to bring Kolkata back into the fold. Rana started with a four over the fine leg and pulled off a brilliant six over midwicket on the next delivery. He added three cracking fours on the next three deliveries and ended the over with another maximum over backward point to make it six consecutive boundaries.

Jagadeesan also joined Rana by adding two fours in the next over off Mayank Markande as Kolkata Knight Riders seemed in contention for another successful 200-plus chase. The duo pulled off an unbeaten 62-run stand for the fifth wicket as Kolkata were playing at 82/3 in eight overs with Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, and Shardul Thakur coming next to bat.

Harry Brook's century gets KKR on their toes 

Meanwhile, Rana won the toss and elected to bowl first at Eden Gardens but things didn't go as planned. Harry Brook smashed his maiden IPL century in just 55 balls and skipper Aiden Markram scored 50 off just 26 to post the biggest total of IPL 2023. Russell, bowling for the first time in IPL 2023, took three wickets for 22 and Varun Chakravarty picked his sixth wicket of this season for Kolkata Knight Riders.