'You have to follow rules, respect game and opponents' - Ajinkya Rahane on sending Yashasvi Jaiswal off field in Duleep Trophy final

The West Zone added yet another Duleep Trophy title to their cabinet after emerging victorious against South Zone by 294 runs. The winning side set a humungous 529-run target for an outright win as South Zone were bowled out in just 71.2 overs scoring 234 runs.

Yashasvi Jaiswal was deemed as the player of the match after playing monumental innings of 265 off 323 balls. Sarfaraz Khan, too stepped up to the occasion and slammed an unbeaten century (127) off 178 balls.

The brilliant innings put up by the young lads helped set the game for Ajinkya Rahane-led West Zone. However, during the match West skipper Rahane decided to send Jaiswal off the field after the latter was seen sledging Ravi Teja on consistent basis.

Ajinkya Rahane sent Jaiswal back after verbal spat with Teja

Jaiswal and Teja engaged in sledging numerous times and had been even warned by the umpires for their actions. In the latest tunr, Rahane has come with reasons for his action of sending Jaiswal off for a few overs on the final day of the match. He opened up on the incident and explained saying-

“You have to follow rules and respect the game, your opponents and the umpires. That’s the way I have always played my cricket and I will continue to do so. There are certain things you must follow on the field, if you don’t, you get off the field. This is my mantra," said Rahane after the game.

“I believe in always respecting your opponents, umpires, and match officials. So you have to handle certain incidents in a certain manner," Rahane added.

The incident first took place in the 50^th over of the fourth innings when Jaiswal walked up to Teja and was seen having a few words. It further got heated in the 57^th over as the West Zone player could not control himself and continued sledging. The skipper did not appreciate the behaviour by his teammate on the pitch and immediately asked him to leave.