• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Lucknow Super Giants Wanted Kkr Superstar Captain Ahead Of Ipl 2023

Lucknow Super Giants Wanted KKR Superstar Captain Ahead of IPL 2023

image-ljzvz8ayKrunal Pandya and Nitish Rana [Twitter]

Lucknow Super Giants were eyeing to trade Nitish Rana from Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of IPL 2023. The Delhi-born cricketer was reportedly one major transfer target for Sanjiv Goenka and team to strengthen their Indian contingent for their second season in the competition.

The trade window was open until November 15, 2022 as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) set the deadline for the list of retained, traded and released players from the franchises.

Five-time champions Mumbai Indians traded Australian seamer Jason Behrendorff from Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders brought the likes of Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson and Aman Khan was traded to Delhi Capitals from Kolkata Knight Riders.

None of the other franchises were involved in any trading activities. However, there were many unfulfilled trade interests for various franchises which they tried to pull off ahead of the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League.

According to Dainik Jagran, one such interest was from the Lucknow based franchise for KKR’s left-handed batter Nitish Rana. Rana had an impressive Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Delhi, scoring more than three hundred runs at a strike rate 139.03 and an average of 45.28.

The Super Giants rightly aimed at acquiring a player like Rana who could have been the solution to their middle-order conundrums. Rana being an Indian player, additionally a left hander who can bat in the middle order, could have proved to be a very good move for the Lucknow franchise.

Moreover, with Gautam Gambhir being the mentor of Lucknow, their interest in roping in Rana was not a surprise as the former KKR skipper has a serious liking for Rana, for whom he has been a mentor throughout his cricketing journey. However, the move never went ahead and Rana went on to lead KKR in IPL 2023 in absence of Shreyas Iyer.

Nitish Rana will be in action next in the upcoming Deodhar Trophy 2023 which is marking its return in the 2023-24 domestic season after four long years. Rana has been selected to play and captain the North Zone side as the second major domestic List A competition is scheduled to take place from July 24 in Puducherry.