Delhi Capitals’ Nitish Rana has been fined 25 per cent of his match fee despite not being part of the playing eleven or being picked as an impact player for the clash against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Rana, who was listed as one of the substitutes/potential impact players, was involved in a heated argument with fourth umpire as the latter disallowed a change of gloves for Tristan Stubbs in the 19th over of the run chase.
In addition to the 25 per cent match fee fine, Rana has also been handed one demerit point for violating Level 1 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct for Players.
“Rana was found to have breached article 2.3 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct, which relates to “use of an audible obscenity during a match.” the IPL release mentioned.
After the match Rana admitted to the offence and accepted the sanction imposed by match referee Shakti Singh.
Impact of 4th umpire’s decision in CSK vs DC clash
While Rana has been fined, he wasn’t the only one who had a confrontation with the umpire. DC head coach Hemang Badani and substitute fielder Karun Nair had a conversation with the fourth umpire not allowing Stubbs a change of gloves despite hot and humid conditions of Chepauk. While Rana was arguing, DC’s Director of Cricket, Venugopal Rao asked him to calm down.
The fourth umpire’s decision seemed to irk Stubbs who was struggling to grip the bat’s handle with wet gloves. On the third ball of the penultimate over, he lost control of the shot against Jamie Overton and was caught at mid-off. He departed for a 36-ball 60 and DC ended up losing the match by 23 runs.
DC dropped Rana for CSK clash
Traded from Rajasthan Royals, Rana hasn't had a good run in the IPL 2026 for DC. He registered scores of 15, 0 and 5. Also, skipper Axar Patel hasn’t used him as an off-spin option. It will be interesting to see whether he gets a chance against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on April 18.