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KKR's Nitish Rana Recalls Rohit Sharma's 'What Is Captaincy' Advice In The Middle Of IPL 2023

Nitish Rana with Rohit Sharma [X.com]Nitish Rana with Rohit Sharma [X.com]

Former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Nitish Rana recently shared how Indian captain Rohit Sharma helped calm his nerves when he took over the KKR captaincy from the injured Shreyas Iyer. 

Rana, who began his career in the 2016 Indian Premier League (IPL) with Mumbai Indians under Sharma's leadership, has always shared a strong bond with the Indian skipper.

Rana joined KKR in 2018 and quickly made an impact as a middle-order batter. However, his journey as KKR captain in 2023 was challenging. 

During an interview on TRS Clips, Rana recounted a pivotal conversation with Rohit Sharma, which eased his captaincy pressures.

"Last year, when I was captaining, I went up to Rohit bhaiya. We won two matches then lost two matches. He said 'Nitish, what do you think? What is captaincy?' I was about to say something. Actually. I wanted to speak my heart out, but Rohit bhaiya didn't let me. He said captaincy is nothing. Just changing bowlers, moving fielders from one position to another… it's not captaincy," Rana revealed.

Sharma's advice was simple yet profound. "He said all that to calm me down and ease me up. He made me understand, 'As long as the result is in your favour, you're sorted. The day things don't go well, no matter how good you captain, no one will talk about you. So, you concentrate on your process and back yourself. The more you try to complicate, it'll be that tough and the more you keep it simple, the easier it'll be.'"

Rana's 2024 IPL season also saw its share of challenges. He suffered an injury in KKR's first match against SunRisers Hyderabad and only joined in the second half. 

Despite these setbacks, Rana has had a notable IPL career, scoring 2636 runs in 107 innings with a strike rate of 135.04.