Newcomer heavily fined after notebook sendoff to Priyansh Arya in LSG vs PBKS IPL 2025 match

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) spinner Digvesh Singh Rathi has been fined 25 percent of his match fee and handed one demerit point for his 'notebook sendoff' to Priyansh Arya during the team's eight-wicket loss to the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL). The leg-spinner dished out the infamous sendoff popularized by West Indies pacer Kesrick Williams after dismissing his Delhi teammate at the Ekana Stadium on Tuesday, April 1.

Priyansh Arya lost his wicket to Digvesh Singh in the third over of the run chase. The left-handed batter had attempted a pull shot, but could only get a top edge, pouched comfortably by Shardul Thakur. Just as the batter was making his way back to the pavilion, Digvesh approached him to deliver a sendoff, which was met without any retaliation by the batter.

The umpires immediately had a word with the leg spinner, warning him against such conduct on the field. Former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar also panned the sendoff during commentary, reminding everyone how Virat Kohli responded after Williams had issued the infamous celebration.

Unsurprisingly, the governing body responded by imposing a strict punishment on the LSG bowler after the contest's conclusion.

"Digvesh Singh, bowler, Lucknow Super Giants has been fined 25 per cent of his match fees and has also accumulated one Demerit Point for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during his team’s match against Punjab Kings at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Tuesday," BCCI's statement read.

"Digvesh Singh Rathi admitted to the Level 1 offence under Article 2.5 and accepted the match referee’s sanction.l, which is final and binding in case of Level 1 breaches," the statement added.

This marks the first disciplinary-related offence in the IPL 2025. MI skipper Hardik Pandya and RR stand-in captain Riyan Parag were handed fines of INR 12 Lakh each for maintaining a slow over rate in the early stages of the competition.

Digvesh Singh finished with figures of 2-30 as LSG tasted defeat in their first home game

Digvesh Singh was responsible for both wickets to fall in the second innings of the contest. After dismissing Priyansh Arya in the powerplay, the LSG leg-spinner also took Prabhsimran Singh's wicket in the 11th over to end his sublime knock.

However, the rest of the LSG bowling unit put in a lacklustre shift as PBKS chased down the 172-run target comfortably, with more than three overs to spare. The Shreyas Iyer-led side are now among the three sides that have a 100 percent win record, along with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and the Delhi Capitals (DC).