Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Nitish Rana was involved in a heated exchange with Mumbai Indians bowler Hrithik Shokeen, also his state teammate at Delhi, after the latter dismissed him during an IPL 2023 clash today (April 16).

Rana, who scored 75 off 41 balls in KKR’s previous game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, including hitting Umran Malik for six boundaries in an over, was unable to get going on Sunday, making five before he was dismissed by Shokeen after facing ten deliveries.

Rana tried to attack the spinner but ended up miscuing it to Ramandeep Singh who took an easy catch in the deep. As Rana walked back to the dug out Shokeen walked past to celebrate with his teammates and seemingly uttered a few words that irked Rana.

Rana stopped in his tracks and answered back animatedly as he was being pulled away by Mumbai captain Suryakumar Yadav and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla.

“Nitish Rana usually comes across as a cool customer. Someone’s fired him up,” said the commentator during the incident.

Reportedly, Rana and Shokeen do not have the most cordial relationship, with reports of rifts emerging from the Delhi dressing room in the past.

Watch the war of words here:

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