Nitish Rana and Digvesh Rathi, two well-known IPL players, were involved in a heated verbal clash during a Delhi Premier League (DPL) 2025 match. Rana, who played a sensational knock of 134 runs off just 55 balls, saw his brilliant innings overshadowed by the altercation.
The incident began when Digvesh reportedly said something to provoke Rana, leading to an angry reaction from the left-hander. Notably, Digvesh had already faced disciplinary action earlier with a one-match ban during IPL 2025. After the match, Rana openly criticized Digvesh, holding him responsible for sparking the controversy.
“It’s not about who’s right or wrong, he came to win the match for his team, and I came to win for mine. But respecting the game of cricket is my responsibility, and it’s his as well. He was the one who started it,” Rana said during a media interaction.
“Yes, if someone pokes me or gets in my face, I’m not someone who will just sit quietly. Because this is how I’ve always played my cricket. If someone pokes me, and they think they’ll get me out by provoking me, then I can also hit back with sixes. What happened was an example of that,” Rana added.
Nitish Rana and Digvesh Rathi were trying to play mind games with each other. First, Digvesh stopped in the middle of his run-up, and then Rana stepped away when Digvesh was about to bowl. A few balls later, Rana hit a reverse sweep for six off Digvesh and then mocked him by copying his trademark celebration.
Digvesh seemed to say something to Rana, which made Rana very angry, and the two almost got into a fight. In the end, Rana answered with his batting. He smashed 15 sixes and scored 134 runs, leading his team, West Delhi Lions, to victory in the DPL 2025 Eliminator.
The post ‘If someone pokes me…’: Nitish Rana reacted to the heated clash with Digvesh Rathi during the DPL appeared first on Cricket Country.
