[Watch] Nitish Rana and Hrithik Shokeen's heated exchange during MI vs KKR IPL 2023 clash

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Nitish Rana and Mumbai Indians (MI) spinner Hrithik Shokeen were involved in a heated verbal exchange during the two sides' IPL 2023 match on Sunday afternoon.

The incident transpired in the ninth over of the first innings. Nitish Rana (5 off 10 balls) was struggling to find his rhythm at that juncture. He tried to break the shackles by going for a big hit off the first ball of the ninth over against off-spinner Shokeen.

Rana went down the track and lofted the ball, but he miscued the shot and substitute fielder Ramandeep Singh successfully caught it to pull the curtains on his sedate knock.

Hrithik Shokeen then gave the batter a send-off, which was not well received by Rana. He got angry and tried to give it back to the MI bowler before Suryakumar Yadav and others ran in to calm things down.

You can watch the incident below:

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Venkatesh Iyer hits century for KKR after Nitish Rana-Hrithik Shokeen's verbal spat

KKR batted first after losing the toss and both their openers failed as they could not give a decent start to their side. Venkatesh Iyer (104 off 51 balls) did not let their poor performance dent his side as he shouldered the responsibility and went on a carnage against MI bowlers in the powerplay.

His onslaught rendered Mumbai Indians bowlers and fielders clueless. However, he did not receive much support from the other end as batters struggled for timing.

It did not deter Iyer's concentration as he kept playing aggressively and notched up his century in 49 balls. He became the second KKR player to hit a century after Brendon McCullum did so in the very first match of the IPL back in 2008.

Riley Meredith dismissed him in the 18th over to give MI a much-needed breakthrough.