After return to Delhi, Nitish lays down a marker

When Nitish Rana re-entered the Delhi set-up around two months ago, it was perceived as an acknowledgement of his lack of success with Uttar Pradesh over the previous two domestic seasons. After a lean run for Delhi in the 2022-23 campaign, the 31-year-old had sought greener pastures by moving to the neighbouring State. But his indifferent form persisted, and he wasn’t able to justify his reputation as a senior batter in the UP side.

It was only natural, then, to wonder whether Nitish merited a spot in Delhi’s playing eleven in the upcoming 2025/26 season. And when he went without a half-century for West Delhi Lions in the first eight matches of this year’s Delhi Premier League, the doubts seemed to grow.

But in the closing stages of the T20 league that concluded on Sunday, Nitish delivered an emphatic response. In the Eliminator, Qualifier 2 and final, the left-hand batter produced unbeaten knocks of 134, 45 and 79 respectively as Lions won the title.

“I don’t believe in living on what you have done earlier. You have to score runs whenever you go out. That is my mentality. So it was definitely important for me to score runs in this tournament,” Nitish said when asked whether he had a point to prove. “I hadn’t scored runs in my last season for Delhi. I had left because I perhaps believed that I could go outside and perform better. But it didn’t materialise. So the comeback was important and this sort of performance was personally very important for me.”

That Nitish has represented India and played in the IPL for many seasons was evident during the knockouts. “It is a matter of experience. A reputed cricketer once told me that a player struggles when he doesn’t understand how he is batting during the good times. He advised me that when you are batting well, it is important to analyse what is working. You then get the answers that help you during a lean phase,” he said.