Nitish Rana, who led Mumbai Indians’ chase of 159 to seal a four-wicket win at home over defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad, credited the mentorship of Mahela Jayawardene and Sachin Tendulkar for his success.

The 23-year-old said the advice of team coach Jayawardane and icon Tendulkar helped him recover his lost form. The young Delhi batsman anchored Mumbai’s successful chase with an invaluable 45 off 36 balls, studded with three boundaries and two sixes.

“The environment made a lot of difference,” Rana said in the post-match press conference. “When I came here, I interacted with a lot of senior players, Mahela Jayawardene, Sachin sir, Rohit bhai [Sharma].”

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The left-hander has now scored 34, 50 and 45 in the first three matches of this edition of the Indian Premier League. His turnaround becomes even more crucial for both the batsman and the team as Rana was going through a rough patch. He was dropped by the Delhi in the middle of their Ranji Trophy season.

“I also spoke to [senior Delhi batsman] Gautam Gambhir, I was mentally disturbed and thinking too much,” Rana said. “I spoke to them and expressed myself about what had happened in the Ranji season, they shared their experience which helped me. I have been with him [Gambhir] since childhood, 10-12 years, we are from the same club. He cleared my mind.

“Coming here the same thing I asked, Mahela, Sachin Sir and the same thing they shared and I tried to develop it in my game, it luckily worked for me,” he added.

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Delving further into his game, he said the issue was his technique. “There was no problem in the technique. I wasn’t able to play my game and could not enjoy [myself]. After I failed once-twice, I had gone into a shell. After coming here, my mind was clear, the practice and the first game went well, slowly [things started improving].”

Rana’s run of form means senior batsman Ambati Rayudu could continue to be on the bench as the youngster has taken up the responsibility of shoring the Mumbai Indians’ middle-order.