Nitish Rana lauds Manchester United star for inspiring performance against Athletic Bilbao in Europa League semis

Manchester United beat Athletic Bilbao on Thursday night with the scoreline of 7-1 aggregate to reach the finals of the UEFA Europa League. Former English Premier League champions will take on Tottenham Hotspur F.C. in the finals. Veteran star Casemiro scored a crucial second goal after Mason Mount opened the scoring. The Brazilian star scored the perfect header thanks to Bruno Fernandes’ free kick in the 79th minute. 

Post the victory, Indian cricketer Nitish Rana took to his Instagram handle and posted a story lauding Casemiro. Nitish wrote “Old Warrior” with a picture of Casemiro pointing towards the crowd after scoring the goal. The 4-1 win also meant that United won the tie with 7-1 aggregate having won the away tie 3-0. Miker Jaruregizar opened the scoring for the visitors with a long range effort in the 31st minute. Mason Mount scored two goals in the game and Rasmus Hojlund finally found the back of the net to seal a comprehensive win.

On Thursday, it was reported that Nitish Rana was ruled out of the IPL 2025 season due to injury. The left-handed batter was replaced by South African batter Lhuan Dre- Pretorius who plays for Paarl Royals in the SA20 league. Sandeep Sharma who also suffered an injury is set to be replaced by Nandre Burger for rest of the season. 

Rajasthan Royals looking to end season on a high 

Riyan Parag-led Rajasthan Royals lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by just one run in their last IPL 2025 game. The Royals are already out of the tournament after their 100-run loss to the Mumbai Indians at home. Royals now have two games left in the season, the first one is away to Chennai, and the final match is at home to Punjab. 

Former IPL winner Nitish Rana played 11 games for the Royals this season and scored 217 runs. The 31-year-old hit two fifties, which came against Chennai and Delhi respectively. Nitish Rana last played in the game against MI, where he scored nine runs before falling to Trent Boult. 

Right-arm seamer Sandeep Sharma had a season to forget with the ball, picking just nine wickets from 10 matches. The 31-year-old who picked 13 wickets for RR last year was seen struggling to find his rhythm this year. Nandre Burger has played six games for RR and picked seven wickets with a best of 2/29.