Nothing pleases a franchise more than seeing a young domestic player rise to the occasion and deliver on the big stage in front of thousands of cheering fans. The best way to justify the faith and money invested in a youngster is by making use of the huge platform that the VIVO Indian Premier League provides. Delhi’s Nitish Rana showed signs of his talent during last season’s final league game when he made 70 off 36 batting at No. 3. During Mumbai Indians’ first home game this season, the MI management promoted him to the one-drop position ahead of Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard. The move worked brilliantly as Rana anchored a stunning chase against Kolkata Knight Riders,which was completed by Hardik Pandya’s late cameo. In their second home game, Rana carried on in the same fashion and announced his arrival with a spectacular six over fine leg off just his second ball bowled by Bangladesh’s Mustafizur Rahman. Like in the previous game, Rana once again played a crucial knock (45 off 36 balls) but got out when the finishing line was within touching distance. Rana has made sure that MI do not feel the absence of Ambati Rayudu who suffered an injury in their opening game by instantly filling the void. While Rana seems to be on song now, he was off tune just about a month back. In the Inter-State T20 tournament, his top score was just 22 in five games. After aggregating only 10 runs in the first three games of the Vijay Hazare Trophy (50-over tournament), Rana faced the axe and was dropped from the Delhi team. Since that snub, Rana went back to the drawing board before joining MI, and once here, he had heartfelt conversations with some of the greats of the game. “When I was playing the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, I was mentally disturbed. I came here and spoke to Sachin Tendulkar and Mahela Jayawardene. I spoke to a lot of seniors in the team. There was no fault in my technique but the issue was more of the mindset. I realized I was overthinking,” shared Rana with iplt20.com.

The clear communication has had a direct impact on his game. Rana now goes out to the centre with a plan, well aware of the situation and his ability. “We have a clear thought process. I am now clear in my mind. I exactly know what I need to do when I am out there in the middle. Today, there was some pressure but the way Krunal Pandya (37 off 20) came out and played, it eased the pressure off me. Rana says the time spent with Mumbai Indians has enhanced his game. “You can see the improvement day by day. There has been a huge change in my batting and the mindset from last season. I get to learn so much when I talk to them.” Rana is aware that in both the matches he had opportunities to finish the game unbeaten. “We have big hitters in the team and my role is to bat till the end. In the last game, I got out when it got close and in this game too, I got out just before we could hit the winning runs. I feel I should have stayed unbeaten in both the games and I don't want to repeat these mistakes in the upcoming games.”