IPL 2025: If umpires have time to check bats, then we don't have any issue, says Nitish Rana

New Delhi, April 15 (IANS) Rajasthan Royals (RR) all-rounder Nitish Rana stated the on-field umpires are very well within their rights to randomly check sizes of the bats used by the batters during IPL 2025 matches, provided they have the time to do.

In RR’s nine-wicket defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Jaipur, bats of Rana and Shimron Hetmyer were checked for their dimensions by on-field umpire Nitin Menon, who had a white triangular plastic gauge in hand. When RCB were batting, on-field umpire Sai Darshan Kumar inspected bats of Phil Salt and Devdutt Padikkal.

The random bat checks, as previously reported by IANS on Tuesday, is now going to be a routine affair in the rest of IPL 2025. “There is a huge shortage of time in a T20 game. If the umpires have that much time to check it, I guess it is their right to check it. Even my bat was checked. In that game, 60-70% of the batter's bats were checked. So, I think it is fair enough. We don't have any say in it and it is not controllable. So, how will we control it?”

“But yes, whichever company we play from, and whichever company is our sponsor, the bats come after being made from there. So, we don't have any issue. But if the umpires have to check it for themselves, then I guess we don't have any problem,” said Rana in the pre-match press conference ahead of RR’s clash against Delhi Capitals (DC), set to happen at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday.

RR are currently at eighth place in points table, with just two wins and four defeats. With the half-way mark of the season approaching, every game is crucial for RR, the inaugural IPL champions, to win and have a crack at entering the playoffs. Rana further said the talk in the camp has been about how different players will have to step up in different matches and lead the team to victory.

“As far as the form is concerned, obviously we are quite low on the points table. But there are a lot of positives in the matches that we have lost and won. The sooner we forget those things (mistakes) and learn from them and move forward, I think that is what is more important for us at this time.”

“On a given day, what you perform is important. 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 is just a milestone for me. As a player and batter, you want to achieve it. As a team, where do you stand and how do you perform on that individual day? How do you take those two points home? I guess that is the most important thing. In our group, it is still being said that on different days, the same person will not perform.”

“Why it is said as a team game is because one day someone will raise their hand, and on another day someone will raise their hand. At the end of the day, the day we play the match, if those two points are in our favour, whether someone has scored 50, or 0, or 100, I think it is all the same. The win is important, and I guess we are looking for that.”

So far in IPL 2025, Rana’s form has been largely patchy – barring an 81 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Guwahati, his scores have been 11, 8, 12, 1 and four not out. Moreover, Rana’s batting position has been oscillatory – at times, he’s batted in the top order, while in Jaipur, he batted at number six and was later subbed out.

“I try to fulfill the demand of the team and what the team wants from me. Before that, when I batted in the first two matches, and then I was asked in the third match to bat at number there, where I said yes and made 80-odd runs. So, I think I have to fulfill the demand of the team as a player and I am okay with it,” he added.

Further quizzed about how he copes with being shuffled up and down the batting order, Rana explained, “That is why a professional cricketer is called one. In such a big league, first of all, you are playing for a good franchise, and that is a big thing. I consider myself very blessed in that.”

“I guess these things, when any team buys you off-season, or shows confidence in you, then they talk to you before the season, like what are your roles in the coming season? Where can you bat? In which situation will you work?”

“I guess that is very clear for everyone, and according to that, preparation is done. That's when we hear that the camp was set up two months ago. As soon as the Ranji Trophy was broken, every franchise has set up a 10-day camp. So we try to cover those things up – like how to bat at the particular place where we want you to play.”

“But at the end of the day, as a batter, you have to focus on the ball. Whether you open or come down, you have to play one ball at a time. The simpler you keep cricket, as a player, I am telling you, the better it is. But the more we confuse it, the more it gets confused.’

“Talking about myself, I don't think about which role has been given to me. Will it be tough for me or not? I guess, this is the biggest (T20) league and (that’s why it’s) is tough. In any tough situation, how you rise as a player, and person, that is the challenge, and I am always ready to take that,” he concluded.

--IANS

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