Delhi: We have seen different ways of celebrating on the ground in cricket, but sometimes something happens which becomes like a tradition. If not in official and international cricket but in IPL, celebration with pocket notes is becoming a big topic of discussion. The original idea was that to celebrate a special occasion, players would take out a pre-written note from their pocket and cameras would broadcast what was written on it around the world. Now this trend is becoming a new and strange trend and that is why it is being talked about more in this season of IPL.
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* In his first match of the season, when Akash Singh dismissed Ruturaj Gaikwad, he took out a small chit from his pocket on which it was written, ‘Akki Aag Babula Hai’. Akash knows how to take wickets in T20 cricket. Akash took 3 wickets (Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Urvil Patel) in 4 overs and said after the match, it was his way of energizing himself. After this, Akash’s story of reaching this position in cricket started being discussed in the media. His passion, the hardships his family faced, everything went viral.
* Earlier in the season, Chennai Super Kings’ Urvil Patel, after his record-equalling 50 off 13 balls against Lucknow Super Giants, pulled out a chit from his pocket with the message, ‘This is for you, Papa.’ The mention of his father and his cricket also started going viral.
These are the two most talked about examples of this season, but on this new trend, Ambati Rayudu said, ‘I think these chits should be banned. This is absolute nonsense. I don’t think players should bring chits to the ground.
Who started this trend? Abhishek Sharma started this trend in IPL 2025. Celebrated his 100 for Sunrisers Hyderabad with a hand-written note for the ‘Orange Army’. Abhishek later told that the idea of doing this was from Shikhar Dhawan who often asked him to think of the target for himself before the matches, like an oath.
Digvesh Rathi of Lucknow Super Giants got the most discussion in IPL 2025. When this young pacer did a ‘notebook celebration’ after taking the wicket of his close friend Priyansh Arya, the BCCI took such a bad view that it imposed a fine (25 percent match fee and one demerit point). Many experts not only called it wrong but also accused the board of ‘double standards’.
Simon Doull even scolded BCCI for this in the commentary itself. Sunil Gavaskar also called it wrong. On the other hand, Rathi still did not agree. When the same celebration was done again (this time after dismissing Naman Dheer), BCCI imposed a fine of 50 percent of the match fee and two demerit points. When the matter reached the point of being suspended, Rathi stopped.
The BCCI, meanwhile, changed its stance when the action was criticized and asked the umpires to be lenient on such celebrations. Then it also came to light that while showing any of his notes, Rathi neither took a dig at the batsman nor stared at him. So what was wrong that BCCI showed so much strictness?
Now when chit celebrations have started increasing, the process of speaking against it has started again. Ambati Rayudu calls ‘chit celebration’ ‘a bit of nonsense’ and demands a ban on it, saying that there is no point in bringing any chit on the ground during the game. Former New Zealand pacer Mitchell McClenaghan also criticized this trend and said that young players should focus more on performance rather than dramatic celebrations. Dale Steyn posted on social media that the trend of celebration is no longer fun. On the other hand, Akash defended the celebration and said that such a note just gives him confidence during the match, ‘I will keep supporting whoever motivates me during the game.’
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So in this way chit celebration is again in the dock of controversy but this time BCCI is not showing any hurry and no reaction has come from their side. No haste has been shown in imposing fine on Rathi. This trend is not new in the world of sports. There are many examples of showing pocket chits after winning a medal in the Olympics, but in these examples, most of the time political messages were written in the chits. Right now in cricket, players are not bringing forward any issue but their motivation. The fear is that no one knows on which day which player will cross the limit of messages.
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