Stand-in Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana on Friday said he is excited to see the impact of Chandrakant Pandit on the team because of his solid knowledge about Indian domestic cricket.
Pandit, the most celebrated coach in the Indian domestic circuit, replaced Brendon McCullum as head coach ahead of this season.
Pandit, had guided Madhya Pradesh to their maiden Ranji Trophy title last year, having won the national championship multiple times with Mumbai and Vidarbha.
“I am very excited for the season. Whatever Chandu sir’s theories are related to cricket, they match with us as in people, who have played domestic cricket… Basically Indians (uncapped domestic players),” Rana said ahead of KKR’s opener.
As always, Pandit’s main emphasis is on discipline.
“All our overseas players are enjoying the small small things that Chandu sir reminds us to do. Like discipline is a big thing, timing. But the role he’ll play this season how effective he is, we will see at the end of the season.” Rana will lead KKR in the absence of regular skipper Shreyas Iyer, who is likely to be out of action for the entire league due to a recurring lower back injury, which could require surgery.
KKR will open their campaign against Punjab Kings here on Saturday.
“It’s the first game, a lot of the things that we have planned can go against us or in our favour. I feel it’s marathon of 14 matches is not less. The process is always important,” Rana added.