The notebook was well and truly out as the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) spinner Digvesh Rathi celebrated the wicket of Sai Sudharsan in style against the Gujarat Titans in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match on Sunday. Ahead of the start of the 19th edition of the T20 tournament, the 26-year-old vowed to keep up with his antics and quirks despite being handed fines and a one-match suspension last year for his over-the-top celebrations.
Rathi was fined thrice in the last edition of the tournament. He was first fined 25 per cent of his match fees and then 50 per cent. For his third offence, he was once again penalised 50 per cent and handed a one-match suspension. And it seems Rathi has taken note of how he was punished, which may explain the new, toned-down version of the notebook celebration.
The IPL 2025 season saw Rathi extending his hand and crossing the imaginary line. This was all done with Rathi looking the batter straight in the eye. However, this was not the case on Sunday when the spinner got the wicket of Gujarat opener Sudharsan.
Once Avesh Khan took the catch to send Sudharsan on his bike, Rathi was seen signing on the ground to celebrate the dismissal. Speaking of the wicket, Rathi bowled a short long-hop down the leg, but the left-hander scooped it straight to the man at third fine, Avesh.
According to the official rules and regulations, the demerit points on an individual’s record remain for 36 months. Rathi, who picked up five demerit points last season, needs to be careful this IPL season, as a total of eight demerit points leads to a two-match suspension, while 11 points result in a three-match suspension.
How did the match unfold?
The IPL 2026 fixture between the Gujarat Titans and the Lucknow Super Giants saw the former winning the toss and opting to bowl. Prasidh Krishna then returned with figures of 4/28 to restrict the hosts to 164/8 in 20 overs. The tall pacer scalped the wickets of Aiden Markram, Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran and Mukul Choudhary. With this performance, Prasidh also went to the top of the Purple Cap leaderboard.
The Gujarat Titans’ chase was then spearheaded by Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler and both batters hit half-centuries for their franchise against Lucknow.
