West Delhi Lions skipper Nitish Rana broke his silence on his verbal spat with South Delhi Superstarz's spinner Digvesh Rathi during the Delhi Premier League (DPL) 2025 Eliminator match. Rana revealed that Rathi was the one to instigate it and said he wasn't someone to back down.
The moment occurred when Rathi was bowling as the leg-spinner was seemingly aggravated when the left-hander connected a powerful reverse sweep to hammer it for a six. Tensions escalated between the two as Rathi responded with some words, provoking Rana to get into a verbal altercation. Both Rana and Rathi have also copped heavy fines.
Speaking to PTI during a media interaction, Rana said he wouldn't willingly get into fights but will not back down if someone pokes him. The 31-year-old stated:
"Yahan par koi sahin galat nahin hai. Woh bhi apni team ke liye match jeetne aaya hai, main bhi apni team ke liye match jeetne aaya hoon. But cricket ki respect karna mera bhi kaam hai aur uska bhi kaam hai. Pehel usne ki. Main yeh nahin bataaunga kaise hua, kya hua because woh unfair hoga. But haan agar mujhe koi poke karega, main chup baithne waalon mein se nahin hoon. Main Dilli ka pala bada hoon, bahut garam khoon hai. Galat cheezon mein nahin. Woh mujhe poke karke out kar sakta hai, toh main poke karke chakke maar sakta hoon. Toh kal yeh usi cheez ka example tha."
(There was no right or wrong here. He has also come to win a match for his side and so have I. The job to respect cricket rests with both of us. He started it. I won't say how because that would be unfair. But if someone pokes me, I'm not someone to stay silent. I'm from Delhi. If he wants to poke me and get me out, I can hit sixes that way too. So, that was the example of that."
Nitish Rana-led West Delhi Lions seal storm into the DPL 2025 final
After Rana's 55-ball 134 helped the Lions to a seven-wicket victory over the South Delhi Superstarz, they put on another commanding performance against the East Delhi Riders in Qualifier 2. The skipper smacked an unbeaten 45 off 26 balls to help their side gun down 140 with eight wickets to spare.
They will face the Central Delhi Kings on August 31, Sunday.
