"Back where I belong" - Nitish Rana ecstatic to rejoin KKR at IPL 2022 Auction

Kolkata Knight Riders' latest recruit Nitish Rana has reacted to his signing at the IPL 2022 mega auction, saying he is ecstatic to rejoin the Riders.

The southpaw triggered a bidding war among the franchises inside the auction before Kolkata managed to bring back their player. Taking to Twitter, the celebrated cricketer wrote:

"I’m back where I belong 💜 @KKRiders."

Rana had entered the auction with a reserve price of ₹1 crore. Kolkata didn't wait long for the bidding to start. Five-time champions Mumbai Indians and defending champions Chennai Super Kings also joined the party.

However, KKR managed to leave them behind at ₹5 crore before Lucknow Super Giants entered the fray. But the Shahrukh Khan co-owned franchise managed to prevail to secure Rana's service at ₹8 crore.

The 28-year-old cricketer was the third signing for KKR after Pat Cummins (₹7.25 crore) and Shreyas Iyer (₹12.25 crore). The India international is likely to be appointed as their skipper after parting ways with last year's captain Eoin Morgan.

The purple brigade have already retained Venkatesh Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy and the West Indies duo of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.

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Nitish Rana's record in IPL

Rana made his debut in IPL 2015 when he was snapped up by the Mumbai Indians. He did not play a single game in the first season. However, Rana played only four matches next season and scored 104 runs, accumulating 333 runs in 13 games the following season.

Nitish was released by Mumbai ahead of IPL 2018 when he was acquired by Kolkata Knight Riders. Since then, Nitish Rana has been an integral part of KKR and amassed 383 runs in 17 games last season.

Overall, Nitish has scored 1820 runs in 77 matches at a strike rate of 132.45, including 13 fifties.