Nitish Rana, the Uttar Pradesh captain, hails long-awaited century
Uttar Pradesh were set for their second win in the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy when their newly-appointed captain, Nitish Rana, played a captain’s knock to drive home a first-innings lead in their game against Mumbai. Rana’s first-class century, one that he registered after four years, allowed UP to gain a 126-run lead in their contest versus Mumbai.
“It was my mistake that I wasn’t focusing on red-ball cricket,” Rana said. “A lot of people had started talking that I wasn’t a red-ball player and I would not have had to listen to that talk [if I had given the format more attention]. From the time I switched from Delhi, my target has been to make my name in red-ball cricket again.”
Rana, although feeling no regrets about moving away from Delhi, is hungry for bigger things. “I won’t call it a big knock,” he said. “A big knock is 300. But I remember in 2020 or 21 I [made] my last hundred. I had lost the habit of scoring hundreds. I now know how to [make] hundreds. A big one is around the corner this season.”
