IPL 2025: Besides the suspension, Digvesh Rathi was fined 50 percent of his match fees. (BCCI)Lucknow Super Giants spinner Divesh Rathi has been suspended for the team’s final league-stage match after accumulating more demerit points from a Code of Conduct breach following a tussle with Sunrisers Hyderabad opener Abhishek Sharma at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Monday.
The tournament organisers confirmed that Rathi had committed a Level 1 offence for the third time this season, tallying five demerit points that warrant a one-match suspension.
“This was his third Level 1 offence under Article 2.5 this season and hence, he has accumulated Two Demerit Points, in addition to Three Demerit Points he had accumulated earlier – One Demerit Point against Punjab Kings on April 01, 2025 and Two Demerit Points against Mumbai Indians on April 04, 2025.
“As he now has Five Demerit Points this season – which result in a one-game suspension – Digvesh will now be suspended for LSG’s next game – against Gujarat Titans on May 22, 2025 in Ahmedabad. For Level 1 breaches of the Code of Conduct, the Match Referee’s decision is final and binding,” the statement from IPL read.
The LSG spinner got under the skin of SRH opener Abhishek with his signature send-off celebration after handing a catch to Shardul Thakur at extra cover region. This led Abhishek Sharma to eyeball the bowler as he walked away. But then he stopped and walked back towards Rathi. The duo had to be separated by the umpire and the LSG fielders but not before they exchanged some words.
The incident also led Abhishek to cop a 25 percent fine of his match fees, owing to his first Code of Conduct breach of the season.
READ MORE | Digvesh Rathi gets Abhishek Sharma’s wicket… then gets under his skin with send off: a blow-by-blow account of drama
The two players — Digvesh and Abhishek — later also spoke to each other while the teams were shaking hands after the Sunrisers won by six wickets.
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Abhishek Sharma, who was the Player of the Match, spoke about the incident to the broadcaster JioHotstar. “We [him and Rathi] spoke after the game, it is all good now,” he said after SRH knocked LSG out of Playoffs contention.
Digvesh’s celebratory antics has come under the spotlight several times this season. After his notebook signatures came under the match referee’s early on in the season, Rathi turned signing off his dismissals on the ground.
Speaking to the Indian Express, Digvesh’s brother Sunny had explained how the celebration motivates the tweaker. “I did ask Digvesh about it. He told me it motivates him. I said, ‘okay, if that helps you play better, fine, but don’t disrespect any player’. He’s not doing it to attract attention. He was not even on social media till recently… wouldn’t even update his WhatsApp status. He would say, ‘what is the point of status update, when you don’t have status’?”
With 14 wickets, Rathi leads the charts among all uncapped spinners this edition.
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