Sunil Gavaskar, a former player for India, has criticized Digvesh Rathi of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for his extravagant celebration following a wicket in Tuesday, April 1’s IPL 2025 match against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Lucknow. PBKS got off to a fast start with 26/0 in the third over, chasing 172 for win.
But Digvesh got rid of PBKS opener Priyansh Arya three balls after he gave up a boundary (in the third over of the innings). With a ‘Notebook celebration’ in his face, the bowler rushed up to the leaving Arya to bid him farewell.
Unimpressed by Digvesh’s performance, Gavaskar, who was on air at the moment, stated (via Hindustan Times):
“I can understand the celebration if the wicket comes after the batsman hit a boundary or a six in the previous ball. As a bowler, you’ve got six deliveries. So if you got five dot balls and get a wicket of the sixth, then you do something like that, it’s not understandable. But all these gestures mean that you don’t expect to get a wicket. And now that you’ve got a wicket, you’re trying to, you know, show off.”
Sunil Gavaskar
The other analyst reminded Gavaskar of Kesrick Williams’s similar celebration of his wickets. He did the same to Virat Kohli in the 2017 Twenty20 International series, and the champion batsman gave Williams the same celebration following his boundaries in the next game.
LSG Face Crushing Defeat After Digvesh Rathi’s Bold Send-Off Celebration
Regretfully, one of LSG’s few happy moments during the second innings against PBKS was Digvesh Rathi’s celebration following the first wicket.
The PBKS hitters took the LSG bowlers to task after they had fought their way to 171 in 20 overs. With the help of opener Prabhsimran Singh’s outstanding 34-ball 69, PBKS quickly reached 100 in the tenth over.
With 22 balls remaining, PBKS easily won by eight wickets with to a brilliant half-century (52*) off just 30 balls from captain Shreyas Iyer. Digvesh, meanwhile, finished with outstanding figures of 2 for 30 in four overs and was the only wicket-taker for LSG.
LSG suffered their second defeat in three games, while PBKS made it two out of two to start their 2025 IPL season. On May 4, the two teams will face off once more in Dharamsala.
