Lucknow Super Giants spinner Digvesh Singh Rathi got fined 25% of his match fees and a demerit point for his odd ‘letter-writing’ celebration after taking out Punjab Kings batter Priyansh Arya. The Board of Control for Cricket in India hit Rathi with this penalty for breaking the IPL Code of Conduct during the match at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Tuesday, which PBKS won by eight wickets.
According to an IPL media release, Digvesh Singh admitted to the Level 1 offence under Article 2.5 and accepted the Match Referee’s sanction. The Match Referee’s decision is final for Level 1 breaches of the Code of Conduct.
The celebration happened on the second-to-last ball of the third over during PBKS’ chase of 172. Digvesh bowled a short, wide delivery that Arya tried to pull but ended up top-edging instead. Shardul Thakur ran in from mid-on to take the catch. As Arya walked off after scoring eight runs off nine balls, Digvesh mimicked writing a letter, seemingly aimed at him.
The umpires noticed the gesture and talked to the bowler, as it reminded many of West Indies bowler Kesrick Williams, who is known for his ‘notebook’ celebration after taking wickets, including a well-known clash with Virat Kohli in 2019.
Cricket legends Sunil Gavaskar and Mohammed Kaif, while commenting on the match, weren’t fans of Digvesh’s antics. Despite that, he was the standout bowler for LSG, with figures of 2/30 in his four overs. Unfortunately, other LSG bowlers didn’t make much of an impact, and PBKS chased down the 173-run target in just 16.2 overs. This win put PBKS in second place on the IPL 2025 points table, tied with RCB and DC, all having four points from their first two matches.