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Legendary India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin remarked that his respect for Nitish Rana grew after the latter didn't take a jibe at Digvesh Rathi following an ugly verbal spat between the two in the Delhi Premier League (DPL) eliminator. This comes after both Rana and Rathi clash during the crucial match between West Delhi Lions and South Delhi Superstarz. Both were seen hurling abuses at each other and this resulted in match-officials and other players intervening between them in order to stop the matter from escalating even further.
It all began after Rana hit Rathi for a maximum using the reverse-sweep. The spinner was then seen saying a few words to Rana, who didn't take his comments kindly and charged towards him. However, when asked to share details of the matter during the post-match presentation, Rana refrained from doing so and this left Ashwin highly impressed.
“I just want to say one thing, in our beloved sport, if a bowler does something, if he emerges as a character, we are not willing to accept that. Maybe in the case of this fight between Nitish Rana and Rathi, the fault would lie with the spinner. But the respect for Rana has grown in my eyes,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“It was Rana's day. He hit 15 sixes. After the game, he was asked ‘What happened?’ The way he handled it was amazing. He said the fault could have been his or Digvesh's. But he said that he was playing to help his team win, and Digvesh was doing that for his team. That spirit and heat are needed to play this game. It was easy for him to throw dirt on Digvesh Rathi, but he didn't do it; he deflected the question,” he added.
Rana's incredible knock
Rana eventually went on to have the last laugh in the match as he played an exceptional knock of 134 runs from just 55 deliveries, leading the West Delhi Lions to record a thumping victory over the South Delhi Superstarz and reach the final of the tournament. The left-hand batter then went on to play a crucial inning of 79 runs in the final against Central Delhi Kings to lead the West Delhi Lions to the DPL title.
“My respect for Nitish Rana has grown multi-fold. As a spectacle, we all like to see this, but the matter of fact is that we don't have to character assassinate anyone. It showed the real character of the man. It is very easy to bring someone down when you are in the euphoria of a win. But he chose not to do that. He gave the right response, and that was amazing," Ashwin further stated.
Rana and Rathi's actions led to them receiving hefty fines from the DPL. The former was fined 50 per cent of his match fees while the latter was fined 80 per cent of his match fees following the verbal spat. The match between the West Delhi Lions and South Delhi Superstarz was definitely one of if not the most heated clash in the history of the tournament.
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