Mumbai's seniors boost Rana's confidence

A change in environment and talking to senior players in and around the dressing room in recent times has turned the confidence switch on for Mumbai Indians batsman Nitish Rana. While trying to settle on a batting lineup with more stability in the middle order, Mumbai have batted Rana at No. 3 and 4 in their first three matches and he has excelled in all of them. The last few months, however, have not been as smooth and celebratory as they seem on television.

After scoring 45 off 36 balls against defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday, Rana revealed that the recent stretch before the start of the IPL had not been smooth for him at all.

"My problem was that I was feeling mentally disturbed, I had started overthinking about things," Rana said after Mumbai's four-wicket win against Sunrisers. "Change of environment made a big difference. When I came here, I got to interact with big players like Sachin [Tendulkar] sir, Mahela Jayawardene, Rohit [Sharma] bhai. I had spoken to Gautam Gambhir also. So when I expressed what I was feeling and when they shared their own experiences, it helped me a lot."

The troubled times Rana was referring to were during the domestic season in India. He started off with a century in Delhi's opening Ranji Trophy match against Assam, but his form tapered off and he did not score a fifty in the next 11 innings. He played five T20 matches for Delhi in the Inter-State T20 Tournament with a high score of 22 and when he produced scores of 5, 5 and 0 in the one-day matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he was dropped from the side.

"I was not able to play my game, I was not able to enjoy because I had gone into a shell," Rana said. "Before the Ranji season had ended, I had spoken to Gambhir the last match I played in. He helped me get clarity. He noticed a few things in me and he has known me since my childhood, for about 10-12 years because we are from the same club. So he cleared my mind a lot. When I came here, I got similar advice from Sachin sir and Mahela sir. So then I tried to make changes in my game accordingly and things worked for me. I scored well in a practice game and in the first match also. So gradually [I regained] my confidence."

The changes in surroundings and company for Rana have been aided by the faith Mumbai Indians have shown in him by making him bat up the order. Mumbai's depth in terms of frontline domestic batsmen in the middle order has been tested since Ambati Rayudu has been out injured for the last two matches. Even though Rohit Sharma has moved down from the opening slot, they needed another hard-hitting batsman who could bat before Kieron Pollard and set the base for him for the end overs.

Batting first in their opening match, Rana started with 34 off 28 balls against Rising Pune Supergiant. While chasing 179 against Kolkata Knight Riders, Rana batted ahead of Rohit, at No. 3, and set up Mumbai's win with 50 off 29 balls. On Wednesday night, he propelled Mumbai's chase against Sunrisers Hyderabad by top-scoring with 45 off 36 balls. With 129 runs through three games, he is Mumbai's leading scorer so far in the current IPL campaign but remains hungry.

"You can still ask for more," Rana said. "I would have preferred to stay not out. Cricket is that kind of a game that things can turn quickly. So it would have been better if I had stayed unbeaten in both matches."