DPL 2025: 'If someone pokes me, I won't sit quiet' - Nitish Rana hits back at Digvesh Rathi

The Delhi Premier League (DPL) made headlines not just for cricket but for a heated verbal exchange between Nitish Rana and Digvesh Rathi. Despite Rana’s blistering knock of 134 off 55 balls, the spotlight shifted to the on-field spat between the two players.

Rana later addressed the altercation, clarifying that it was part of the intensity of the sport and not a matter of personal animosity. The left-hander, who powered West Delhi Lions to victory in the DPL 2025 Eliminator, emphasised that everything was done in the spirit of the team’s cause.

“Sir, it will be unfair on one end because you will ask me a question, I will be able to add only my point of view on the story. If you will forward it somewhere, people will think I am right and he [Digvesh] is wrong. But no one is wrong here. He has come to win the match for his team, and the same goes with me and my team as well. However, it is the duty of both of us to respect the game of cricket,” said Rana to Delhi Junction Sports.

During the incident, both players were initially engaged in mind games, but Rana reacted angrily after Rathi said something directly to him. Rathi, who had already faced disciplinary action with a one-match ban in IPL 2025, was heavily fined in the DPL. Rana was also penalised, and he later admitted that he knew when and where to respond in such situations.

“He was the one who lit the fire, and I will not tell you guys how, because that will be unfair. But if someone comes and pokes me for no reason, I will not keep my mouth shut. This is the way I play my cricket. I am a Delhi-born and I'm warm-blooded, but never for the wrong things. It is not like I keep hurling abuses at everyone, but if someone pokes me, then he is here to win and so am I. If he wants to poke and get me out, I can poke him and hit sixes as well. And the last match was an example of that,” Rana said.

“Till today, I have had so many fights. But not even once have I ever started things off. But yes, if someone comes up to me, then I have surely replied to them in the right manner. This is how I have matured over the years. My parents have taught me that I should raise my voice whenever or wherever I am not at fault. So that's what I have done until now and will keep doing in the future as well,” he added.