Delhi’s star batsman, Nitish Rana’s family, stood disputed between following for former Indian legends Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, and Rahul Dravid.
Rana was a die-hard fan of Ganguly, while his father was an ardent Tendulkar fan, with his brother being fond of Dravid. Therefore, the Rana family often engaged in fights over their favourite batsmen.
The Kolkata Knight Riders’ batsman recalled locking himself in a room and crying whenever ‘The God of off-side’ was dismissed, following mockery from his father.
“We used to have fights in our family. My brother was a Rahul Dravid fan, I was a Sourav Ganguly fan, and my father adored Sachin Tendulkar. My father would tell me something every time Ganguly used to get out. I would run to my room and lock it and then cry and get angry,” Rana told Manish Batavia on Spicy Pitch.
Further, Rana talked about his liking for Delhi Daredevils (now: Delhi Capitals); watching the likes of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, AB de Villiers, and Bollywood giant Akshay Kumar, who were associated with the franchise during the first few seasons of the IPL.
Then, the hard-hitting southpaw talked about how his friend broke the news of him being bought by Mumbai Indians after a successful Ranji season.
“When I called for drinks, I was told that I’ve been picked by Mumbai Indians. I couldn’t – in fact, didn’t – believe it. Perhaps my friend was taking a joke too far. And then, when he insisted, I knew he wasn’t kidding,” added Rana.
During his stint at the Wankhede-based franchise, Rana got an opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the legends of the game namely Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar.
Rana was part of the IPL-winning squad of Mumbai Indians in 2017, before making a shift to KKR during the mega-auction of IPL 2018.
Furthermore, the 26-year-old opened up to being overwhelmed after receiving praises from Tendulkar during his stay at Mumbai Indians.
“My friend overheard a conversation between Sachin Tendulkar and the Mumbai Indians manager Rahul Sanghvi, and told me that I had caught Sachin sir’s notice. He asked ‘Who’s this boy?’. He had clearly taken notice of me. That felt really good,” concluded Rana.
