The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has recently told the umpires of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to chill a bit when it comes to how they handle player celebrations. This guidance came out during a weekly meeting with the umpires last week. The move follows some criticism around the fines that were slapped on Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) spinner Digvesh Rathi for his “notebook” celebration. This is Digvesh’s first season in the IPL, and he’s caught everyone’s attention with a solid performance—picking up nine wickets in seven matches.
As reported by Cricbuzz, the umpires are now being encouraged to ease up when it comes to how they respond to players celebrating their wickets. This shift in attitude seems to stem from the backlash they faced after they penalized Digvesh two times for his unique way of celebrating after taking out batsmen.
Aside from his impressive bowling, Digvesh has been turning heads with his celebrations, which have landed him in hot water. He was fined twice already by the BCCI for his lively reactions after taking wickets. In a game against Punjab Kings, for instance, he pulled off the ‘notebook’ gesture after getting Priyansh Arya out. Then, in another match versus Mumbai Indians—where he also earned the Player of the Match title—he did a similar celebration after dismissing Naman Dhir.
In both cases, he faced a 50 percent penalty on his match fee for crossing the line set by the IPL’s Level-1 code of conduct. According to the BCCI, this latest incident marks Digvesh’s second Level-1 offense under Article 2.5 this season, adding two Demerit Points to his record, on top of the one Demerit Point he picked up during LSG’s match against Punjab Kings back on April 1, 2025.
Digvesh will take the field again on Saturday when the LSG team goes to Jaipur to play against Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Currently, LSG is sitting in fifth place in the points table, holding eight points from their seven matches so far. It will be interesting to see if this softer stance on celebrations leads to more expressive moments from players on the pitch in the future!
