Twitter Reactions: Nitish Rana brings up 27-ball half-century during SRH vs DC clash in IPL 2026

When the Sunrisers Hyderabad posted a massive score of 242 runs in their allotted 20 overs during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash against the Delhi Capitals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad, the visitors needed someone from the top order to stand and contribute. 

Nitish Rana, who missed the last fixture for the franchise, returned at his favorite number three position. Ahead of the season, he was traded from the Kolkata Knight Riders after a poor campaign of 217 runs in 11 innings at an average of 21.70 and a strike rate of 161.94 with two fifties. 

Nitish Rana celebrates 27-ball fifty against SRH in IPL 2026

On the first delivery of the third over, Pathum Nissanka was dismissed for eight runs off six balls. Rana started his knock with a boundary as he took the eyes off the short ball against Dilshan Madushanka with the ball taking the glove and going past the diving wicket-keeper to the fine leg region.

The left-handed batter cut another short ball from Nitish Reddy to the topes before picking the length on the fourth ball and lofted it to the deep extra cover for a massive six. The southpaw has always been a good hitter against the spinner. 

Rana read the wrong’un to rock back and pulled it in front of the square for a six. He got enough for the ball to land beyond the rope before getting a proper connection for another six as the ball flew to the deep mid-wicket region for another six.

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The number three batter cracked a boundary over the extra cover as he completed his half-century off 27 balls with another four against the full ball of Sakib Hussain. But he was finally dismissed for 57 runs off 30 balls at a strike rate of 190 with the help of seven boundaries and three sixes. 

Delhi Capitals reached 118/4 after 12 overs, but they needed some aggressive shots towards the end of the innings in the death overs to get the chase done.

Brief Scores (at the time of writing): DC 171/5 (Nitish Rana 57, Eshan Malinga 3/23) vs SRH 242/2 (Abhishek Sharma 135*, Axar Patel 1/23) 

Fans react to Rana’s fifty in IPL 2026 against SRH

Here is how the fans have reacted to the southpaw’s fifty in the IPL 2026 against Hyderabad-