We always love to see banter between players in the IPL, particularly national team-mates playing for rival sides. This time it's Rajasthan Royals' (RR) Fazalhaq Farooqi who's letting everyone around him know that he's hit about 25 sixes in the nets before breaking his bat and that's definitely more than what his Afghanistan compatriot Rashid Khan, playing for Gujarat Titans (GT), has hit.
Farooqi also tells Rashid that now their conversation will only be in English, "no more Pashto" while Rashid envelops him in a bear hug. Teasing his team-mate about his big-hitting claims, Rashid asks Farooqi whether he "broke his head or his bat".
Farooqi is by then checking out Rashid's bat, but pretends to be offended by the question and says he doesn't want Rashid's bat at all. "It's too heavy," Faoorqi says. "It's okay for a spinner like him," Farooqi tells RR's assistant coach Trevor Penney and then he reminds Rashid of the shot Azmatullah Omarzai, Punjab Kings' Afghan batter, hit off him.
The first ball that Omarzai faced in the match against Titans was a full and wide delivery on sixth stump by Rashid. He reached out and deposited it for six over the bowler's head. Punjab went on to win the match by 11 runs.
Farooqi has played only one match in IPL 2025 so far - conceding 49 runs for no wickets in an away defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
Rashid has played all four of Titans' matches this season, but taken only one wicket. Against Mumbai Indians (MI), he conceded only ten runs in his two overs. GT are placed second in the points table with six points from four matches, behind Delhi Capitals, who also have six points but from three games.