It Was a Big Mistake - Tom Moody Lashes Out at Nitish Rana

image-lhkfahedNitish Rana | Source: Twitter 

Rajasthan Royals put an end to their three-match losing streak with an emphatic nine-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in the 56th match of the Indian Premier League 2023 on Thursday, May 11th at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

The match belonged to Yashasvi Jaiswal, who put on a masterclass with the bat, scoring 98* runs off just 47 balls, with 12 boundaries and five maximums. His magnificent knock helped the Rajasthan Royals chase down the target of 150 runs with ease.

The momentum completely shifted in favour of Rajasthan Royals in the very first over of their run chase as Yashasvi unleashed a blistering assault on Nitish Rana, who took a gamble by bowling in the first over.

The 21-year-old scored 26 runs off the first over, setting the tone for the rest of the match. Meanwhile, it’s Nitish Rana, who has faced a severe backlash for his decision of opening bowling for Kolkata Knight Riders. 

The latest edition to it is the former Australia fast bowler Tom Moody, who believes that the idea to use a spinner against Rajasthan Royals' openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler was a good one but that the KKR captain should not have opted to bowl himself.

Here’s what Tom Moody said during the conversation with Star Sports: 

“I liked the approach from Jaiswal. He was like 'I am not going to let you settle down and play that card against us.'

Notably, KKR played with an extra spinner in Anukul Roy on Thursday to go with their trio of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma. However, despite this, Rana opted to bowl the first over.

"Secondly, that was such a poor tactical decision. He (Nitish Rana) 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 idea. It's a good idea tactically, but Chakravarthy and Narine are your first two on the list. Not Nitish, who is a part-time off-spinner. It's a big mistake and it took the whole gas off the balloon."

Meanwhile, Rana defended his approach in the post-match conference by stating that he wanted to take a chance against the man in form, Yashasvi Jaiswal but it was not his day: 

"He was batting well right through the tournament, so I thought a part-time spinner could perhaps make him complacent, that was the plan, but he played superbly and those things do happen."