R Ashwin Gives New Angle To Nitish Rana-Digvesh Rathi Row: "Character Assassinate..."

Former Indian cricket team spinner R Ashwin added a fresh spin to the on-field spat between Nitish Rana and Digvesh Rathi in the Delhi Premier League (DPL). Ashwin praised Rana for not criticising the spinner after the incident despite losing his cool on the field. The two players almost came to blows during the altercation but were separated by the South Delhi Superstarz players and the officials. It all started when Rana gave his twist to Rathi's notebook celebration after hitting a six - an act that infuriated the spinner. The two players soon engaged in a war of words and things took an ugly turn on the field. Ashwin said that it is mostly the bowler who is blamed in these situations before pointing out that Rana chose to be the bigger man and did not drag the issue after the match.

“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.

Both players were fined after the incident and Ashwin said that Rana's refusal to badmouth Rathi after the game was the proof of his character.

“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,” said Ashwin.

“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,” he added.

Topics mentioned in this article

Nitish Rana Digvesh Singh Ravichandran Ashwin Cricket