Mohammad Kaif fumes at Digvesh Singh for notebook send-off to Priyansh Arya: ‘What letter is he writing?’

Digvesh Singh Rathi has gone viral after the Lucknow Super Giants vs Punjab Kings IPL 2025 for reasons that won't quite make him proud. The LSG leg-spinner gave a Kesrick Williams-like notebook send-off to PBKS batter Priyansh Arya after dismissing him in the third over of the PBKS chase in Lucknow on Tuesday, attracting from noted former cricketers. Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar schooled Digvesh in English commentary, while former India batter Mohammad Kaif fumed at the leggie in Hindi commentary.

"Kya kar rahe hai? Kya khat like rahe hai bhai who (Priyansh Arya) toh jaa hi raha hai (What is he doing? To whom and what letter is he writing? He is anyway going back to the pavilion)," Kaif said, reacting to the send-off given by Digvesh to his teammate in Delhi T20 League, Arya.

The incident occurred in the third over of PBKS’s chase of 172 runs, specifically on the fifth ball, with the score at 26/0. Rathi, introduced into the attack by captain Rishabh Pant, dismissed his Delhi teammate Priyansh Arya, who had scored 8 off 9 balls. Arya, after hitting a boundary off Rathi’s first delivery, mistimed a pull shot on a short, quicker ball, resulting in a top-edge caught by Shardul Thakur at mid-on.

Elated, Rathi ran towards Arya and mimicked the iconic “notebook send-off,” a gesture popularized by West Indies bowler Kesrick Williams, where he pretended to jot down Arya’s name in an imaginary book. The celebration, however, drew immediate attention from the umpire, who warned Rathi, and later criticism from Sunil Gavaskar, who questioned its necessity.

BCCI also punished Rathi for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct. BCCI fined him 25 per cent of his match fees and added one dermit point to his account after the match referee deemed it as a Level 1 offence.

Despite the early breakthrough, PBKS chased the target comfortably, winning by 8 wickets, with Prabhsimran Singh (69) and Shreyas Iyer (52*) leading the charge. Digvesh Rathi was the only LSG bowler in the wickets column. After dismissing Arya, he also got the better Prabhsmiran but Nehal Wadhera ensured there were no hiccups in the PBKS chase. He stitched an unbroken 67-run stand for the third wicket with captain Iyer to take his team home.