Nitish Rana confesses Sourav Ganguly's dismissals used to make him cry as a child

Delhi cricketer Nitish Rana is one of the rising stars of Indian cricket, who has been quite impressive in the Indian Premier League (IPL), especially in the last two seasons for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Earlier, Nitish Rana played for Mumbai Indians but KKR acquired his services for a substantial sum of ₹3.40 crores ahead of the IPL 2018. However, Nitish Rana is yet to have a breakthrough season in both domestic and IPL cricket, which can eventually earn him the coveted India cap.

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Nitish Rana opens up on his childhood idol Sourav Ganguly

Recently, in an interview, Nitish Rana named his childhood idols. Nitish Rana named former India captain Sourav Ganguly as his childhood idol, which doesn't come as a surprise because Rana himself is a left-hander like Sourav Ganguly. In fact, Nitish Rana also revealed that he used to lock himself in the room and cry inconsolably after Sourav Ganguly got out in every match he played.

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Nitish Rana also said that everyone in his family had different favourites altogether. While his father was a fan of Sachin Tendulkar, his brother had a special liking for Rahul Dravid. During a conversation with Cricbuzz, Nitish Rana said that they used to have a fight in the family because everyone had different favourites. He added that his father would tell him something every time Sourav Ganguly used to get out because of which he would get angry and run away to his room.

Nitish Rana also spoke about his exposure to IPL as a child. Rana said that he never thought that he can be a part of the IPL. He added that for 4 or 5 seasons he used to go to Feroz Shah Kotla stadium to watch matches because he liked Akshay Kumar and the Bollywood star was the Delhi Daredevils' (now Delhi Capitals) brand ambassador back then.

Rana also said that he used to like AB de Villiers. Rana further said that back then, Delhi had the likes of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir and added that he used to think if one hasn’t seen them play, then they have seen nothing.

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Rana, who arrived at the Mumbai Indians camp in 2016, didn’t get a lot of chances in the beginning. It was late in the 2016 season when he appeared in a match against the now-defunct Gujarat Lions and impressed everyone. Rana had scored 70 runs from 36 balls and grabbed the attention of one and all. Nitish Rana then went on to become a key player for Mumbai Indians and was a crucial member of the side when they won the IPL in 2017. After that win, he moved to KKR in 2018.

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IMAGE COURTESY: MUMBAI INDIANS TWITTER