Nitish Rana has been one of the most consistent players for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.

In the last edition of the tournament, the 30-year-old scored 413 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 140.95 and in 2024, the middle-order batter expects to get better and eventually get into India's squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup, which is slated to begin on June 1, right after the IPL. Notably, courtesy of having a good season in the cash-rich league, Rana made his international debut in 2021 but didn't get many opportunities and slowly became an afterthought. However, after a good domestic season for Uttar Pradesh, the Delhi-born cricketer is expecting to have a good IPL and score 600 runs in order to get back into the national squad. "Everyone wants to play for the country and many players will have it in the back of their mind, but we have to stay in the present. I too want to get selected for the World T20 squad, but at this moment I am thinking only about the IPL. I believe I can get 600 runs in this tournament and I will be aiming for that," Rana said in an interview with the Times of India.

Starc will be one of our main performers this time: Rana

Two-time champions KKR spent INR 24.75 crore to sign Australia pacer Mitchell Starc. Death over bowling has been one of the biggest concerns for the Shreyas Iyer-led side in the recent past and to solve that, the franchise broke the bank to sign Starc. Speaking on the same, Rana stated that the ace pacer will be one of the main performers for the team and added that the price tag won't affect him.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) IPL jerseys over the years

"Starc is too experienced to let the price tag affect him. We had been missing a death bowler and he has filled up that spot. He knows what needs to be done. In fact, I feel he will be one of our main performers this time. Of course, in T20 cricket, every bowler goes into a match knowing that he might go for runs, and Starc is prepared. Starc won't have much support as KKR's other pacers are quite inexperienced. We have three spinners and want them to control the game. That doesn't mean we have not paid attention to the pace department," Rana mentioned.