Nitish Rana L and Rahul Tewatia. Picture Credit: Twitter/@IPL
Kolkata Knight Riders started off their IPL 2021 campaign in a destructive mode against SRH on Sunday. Being put into bat first, Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill added 53 runs for the opening wicket in 7 overs before Rashid Khan gave the first blow, dismissing Gill at a score of 15. However, what followed later was a Rana-Tripathi heroic display that stole the show in Chennai.
93-run partnership from the KKR duo
KKR were in a state of bother after the loss of first wicket. However, Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi had completely different plans as they started targeting the Hyderabad bowlers, one by one. While Rana played a brilliant knock of 80 runs off 56 deliveries, Tripathi smashed 53 runs off 29 balls. The duo added 93 runs in just 50 deliveries for the second wicket, ensuring that KKR would go on to get an above-par total on a belter track in Chennai.
Here is how Twitter reacted to the Rana-Tripathi show:
KKR failed to capitalize on the brilliant platform that was set by the KKR duo. However, it could be the fact that it wasn't that easy for the new batsmen to start hitting from the first delivery on the Chepauk wicket. The true state of the wicket will be revealed once Hyderabad comes out to bat in the second innings.