"Anyone Can Have A Bad Game Or Two But...": Nitish Rana On KKR Bowlers After Loss To MI

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana urged his bowlers to improve after they suffered a five wickets defeat by Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Venkatesh Iyer's maiden ton went in vain as Ishan Kishan's fifty and Suryakumar Yadav's quick-fire knock of 43 runs guided Mumbai Indians (MI) to a 5-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match at Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. "They targeted our best bowlers and it paid off for them. We could have done better in the powerplay. I would want my bowling unit to deliver more. Anyone can have a bad game or two but it is happening consistently with us. We will go back to the dressing room and talk about it" said Rana during his post-match presentation.

The Mumbai Indians then began their chase, flying out of the blocks. Rohit came on as an impact sub to partner Kishan, and they put on a 65-run opening stand. Kishan would go on to score his fifty, Suryakumar Yadav would score 43 runs, and Tim David would return unbeaten at 24 to help the five-time IPL champions win their second game of IPL 2023.

The KKR captain also expressed sympathy for Iyer, who scored a hundred but couldn't save his team from defeat. Iyer was the only KKR player to score a century in the IPL since Brendon McCullum 15 years ago, but Nitish Rana stated that he expects more tons from his teammates in the future.

"I think we were 15-20 runs short. Credit to PC bhai (Piyush Chawla) for the way he bowled. Feel bad for Venky, he scored a hundred, played so well but finished on the losing side. The whole team knows this was the second hundred for a player from KKR. Other players from our side will also score hundreds going forward," added the KKR skipper.

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