IPL 2020: KKR's Nitish Rana makes a heartwarming gesture to late father-in-law after his fifty vs DC

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batsman Nitish Rana dedicated his match-winning knock of 81 against Delhi Capitals (DC) on Saturday to his late father-in-law.

After reaching 50 not out off 35 balls, Rana made a sweet gesture. He opened his helmet, walked down the crease, and instead of raising the bat, he raised a KKR jersey (handed to him by one of his KKR teammates) with 'Surinder' written on theback of it.

A heart-warming tribute from @NitishRana_27 to his father-in-law, who passed away yesterday. Surinder Marwah. Rest in peace sir. #KKRHaiTaiyaar #Dream11IPL #KKRvDC," KKR wrote on their social media handle.

After being asked to bat, KKR posted a respectable total of 194 for 6 in 20 overs, courtesy of Rana's 53-ball 81. En route his 16th T20 half-century, Rana struck 13 boundaries and a six. He shared a 115-run stand with Sunil Narine, who batted at No. 5 and scored 32-ball 64 at a strike-rate of 200. While the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Tushar Deshpande were expensive for DC, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, and Marcus Stoinis were among the wicket-takers as they bagged two wickets each.

In the second innings, apart from Shreyas Iyer, no other DC batsman significantly contributed on Saturday. Iyer led from the front as he scored a 38-ball 47, including five boundaries.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Iyer termed Narine's knock as the changing point of the match at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

"Looking at the start we got, we could've put more pressure on them and we could've gone more attacking but the way they played in between especially Sunil Narine coming and changing the momentum towards them. I think that was the changing point and also we could've bowled in perfect areas, we couldn't execute our plans but yeah, we need to come back stronger and will take the blow on our chin.

They chose the bowlers really well, knew which bowlers they would target, and also the way they executed the plans was pretty much amazing. They were really good at shot selections and outplayed us in all the departments. So, kudos to their approach and their mindset. I feel it's really important that you get off to an amazing start when you are chasing a total in excess of 190, need 50 runs at least in the first 6 overs. Losing two wickets put a lot of pressure on the batsmen coming behind but you can't give that as a reason. We need to be strong in our mind and play with freedom, not have a survival mindset," added Iyer.

The DC skipper also said that the team is disappointed with the loss but he is glad that it happened when they can afford to learn from the game, do their homework, and go in with a fresh mind in the following match.

After the loss on Saturday, DC now have slipped to the second spot in the IPL 2020 points table. While they have won the same number of matches (7) as Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), DC have played a game more than MI and RCB. Both MI and RCB are scheduled to play on Sunday. The first match of Sunday's doubleheader is between Virat Kohli's RCB and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Dubai, the second fixture will see MI lock horns against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Abu Dhabi.