Nitish Rana involved in fiery exchange with former teammate, umpire intervenes during SMAT quarters; loses ego-battle

Former Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana faced his former team, Delhi, in the quarterfinal round of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy tournament. However, the Uttar Pradesh all-rounder’s outing was forgettable. He was involved in a heated exchange with Ayush Badoni, which forced the on-field umpire to intervene.

It happened in the 13th over of the first innings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Badoni was new to the crease after Rana had ended the 81-run run opening stand between Priyansh Arya and Yash Dhull by dismissing the former for 44 off 31.

Although it remains unclear what triggered the reaction from Rana and Badoni, it seemingly began when the former pulled out of his delivery stride during the start 13th over. In the next ball, Badoni pulled out of his batting stance as Rana ran in to bowl. Badoni then sent down the following ball down the leg side for a single. As the youngster ran toward the non-striker’s end, Rana moved across the crease so that the batter directly ran into his path, leaving Badoni to slow down. The two then exchanged words in a fiery scene, which also involved death stares from both players as the umpire rushed to end the conflict.

Nitish Rana loses ego battle

Badoni had the last laugh in the battle against Rana as the Lucknow Super Giants star, who was retained by the franchise ahead of the IPL mega auction, dismissed Rajasthan Royals’ newest recruit for just 2 runs off three balls.

The Delhi captain was also left elated as his team beat Uttar Pradesh by 19 runs to reach the semifinal. They will next face Madhya Pradesh, who beat Saurashtra by six wickets in the quarterfinal, on Friday in Bengaluru in the tournament’s second semifinal. In the first semifinal, Baroda will be up against Mumbai at the same venue, which will also host the finale on Sunday.