IPL 2021: Nitish Rana has INCREDIBLE stat which is set to thrill MI for Tuesday's game

The Nitish Rana IPL 2021 stint got off to a sensational start as he starred in Kolkata Knight Riders' comfortable 10-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday. The southpaw, who was adjudged the 'Player of the Match', scored a blistering 80 off 56 balls at a strike rate of 142.86, a knock that included nine fours and four towering sixes. The SRH vs KKR result means that the Men in Purple have now defeated the Orange Army three consecutive times as they were defeated twice in the last year's IPL.

Nitish Rana IPL 2021: KKR star creates bizarre and unwanted pattern with 56-ball 80 against SRH

After Nitish Rana's stunning innings against SRH, some fans were quick to point out an undesirable pattern in his recent knocks. In his last six innings, Rana has recorded golden ducks in alternate innings whereas he has recorded scores in the eighties in the remaining games. Nitish Rana's scores in the last six innings read 0(1), 81(53), 0(1), 87(61), 0(1), and 80(56).

If the dynamic left-hander follows the same pattern, he is likely to get out for a golden duck in the KKR team 2021's next game, which is against arch-rivals Mumbai on Tuesday. The Delhi-based cricketer will be eager to break the pattern and score some big runs and help his side beat their biggest nemesis, who they have an awful record against. KKR and MI have played 27 games against each other in the IPL and it the Men in Blue and Gold who have won 21 matches as opposed to KKR's six.

Coming back to the SRH vs KKR result, Kolkata were asked to bat first after Hyderabad skipper David Warner won the toss and ended up posting a challenging total of 187/6 from their 20 overs, riding on stellar half-centuries from opener Nitish Rana (80) and No.3 batsman Rahul Tripathi (53). In reply, SRH were reduced to 10/2 in the third over after losing the prized wickets of skipper David Warner and wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha before Jonny Bairstow (55) and Manish Pandey resurrected their innings with a 92-run stand for the third wicket before the former was dismissed.

Pandey continued to fight the battle alone for the 2016 champions but unfortunately, he did not receive much support from the other end. In the end, Pandey remained unbeaten on 61 as SRH were restricted to 177/5 from their 20 overs and KKR ended up adding the first two points in their tally. Eoin Morgan's men will now take on Mumbai Indians in Match 5 of the IPL 2021 on Tuesday, April 13 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

KKR vs MI live streaming details

The fifth match of the IPL 2021 between KKR and MI will be televised on the Star Sports Network's Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 3 SD/HD. Fans can also enjoy the match live on the Disney+ Hotstar app and website. The KKR vs MI live scores and updates will also be available on the websites and social media pages of the IPL and the participating teams. 

KKR team 2021

Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Tim Seifert (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Eoin Morgan (c), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun CV, Kuldeep Yadav, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, Karun Nair, Harbhajan Singh, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer, Pawan Negi.

SOURCE: IPLT20 TWITTER