5 potential power-hitters for India in T20 cricket

Nitish Rana

Nitish Rana was excellent with the bat during the 2015-16 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Nitish Rana played just 4 games in the IPL, but he made a good enough impression to be touted as a potential hitter in T20 cricket. 104 runs from those games at an average of 34.66 and a strike-rate of 134.66 made the Delhi-born batsman a good chance to lay a claim for a spot in the national side.

It is not just on the basis of 4 IPL games that we say this. Rather, in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2015-16, Rana played a couple of match-winning innings against Baroda (53), Jharkhand (60*) and against Andhra (97) and hit 21 sixes in the tournament – the most by any batsman. In total, the 22-year-old scored 299 runs in the series.

A first-class average of 50.63 from 7 games may speak of a nascent career at first, but it clearly indicates that the hunger to score runs and the ability to get them is there. The big-hitting prowess mixed with his first-class runs may make him a candidate for a complete batsman across formats for India. He may be required to grind it out for a couple of more seasons, though.