RCB would be eyeing to register their first home win in IPL 2025 while playing against RR. RCB has been a force to reckon with after winning games in MI, CSK, RR & PBKS, but they have fallen like a pack of cards with 3 games lost at Chinnaswamy Stadium. Virat Kohli has been a revelation, though, for RCB with the bat in hand. Virat Kohli has amassed 322 runs in 8 innings and struck 4 half-centuries, and has looked a force to reckon with.
RCB’s peculiarity this season has been that they haven’t been entirely Virat Kohli-centric. The franchise didn’t retain the modern-day greats Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis, but the likes of Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal & Rajat Patidar have chipped in with invaluable contributions. Not many times have RCB fans witnessed unity among RCB’s three departments.
Controversial celebration of Digvesh Rathi in IPL 2025
LSG’s spinner Digvesh Rathi‘s notebook celebration caught the eyeballs of the cricket fraternity. After taking the wicket of PBKS’ Priyansh Arya on April 1, Digvesh Rathi had done a notebook celebration in face of Priyansh Arya and got fined 25% of match fees and 1 demerit point. This didn’t stop. Later, while playing against MI, he repeated the same actions against MI’s Naman Dhir, and the BCCI took stringent action.
Digvesh Rathi’s celebration of note notebook cost him 50% of the match fine and another two demerit points. Digvesh Rathi ever since that hasn’t done notably aggressive celebrations on the face of batters.
Aakash Chopra raises voice over Virat Kohli’s actions & celebration
Aakash Chopra was seen speaking on his YouTube channel. Aakash Chopra gave the example of how Digvesh Rathi was fined by BCCI, and later he realized his mistake and didn’t repeat it. Aakash Chopra stated that Virat Kohli got away after an aggressive celebration when he challenged Shreyas Iyer in the face after scoring the winning runs.
“What caught my eye was that Digvesh Rathi did a ‘notebook’ celebration. He did it once and got fined. He did it a second time and got fined. He got scared the third time, saying he was not earning as much as he would lose in fines. So he has started writing something on the ground,” said Aakash Chopra.
During the PBKS vs RCB match at Mullanpur on 20th April, Jitesh Sharma hit the winning runs, and Virat Kohli at the non-striker end showed a bit of violent gestures in the face of PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer. Before that encounter on 18th April, PBKS had defeated RCB in their backyard. RCB completed revenge, we can say, but Virat Kohli’s animated and we can say aggressive behavior highlighted the incident rather than that much the game.
“Then we saw Virat Kohli’s celebration at the end of the PBKSvsRCB match, that was also pure aggression. However, no one said anything to him. There is not even a rap on the knuckles. Nobody has pulled him up for that, but you did that when Digvesh Rathi did a notebook celebration”, he stated.
Aakash Chopra gave the example of MS Dhoni who was also involved in a heated exchange with officials. This incident was way back in 2019 of CSK vs RR match when MS Dhoni had entered on ground and questioned the umpire’s decisions, and later BCCI imposed a fine of 50% of the match fees.
“I recall MS Dhoni was once fined 50 percent of his match fee because he entered the ground. He shouldn’t have gone at all. 50 percent of his match fee was immediately cut. It could have been more than that, but there was some action. However it hasn’t happened in Virat Kohli’s case,” he added.
Not a great message for youngsters
It’s not the first time that Virat Kohli has been aggressive or ultra-aggressive on the field with the bat in hand or while fielding. There’s absolutely no doubt that Virat Kohli is one of the greatest batters of all time, and we can say even bigger than Sachin Tendulkar and Sir Don Bradman, but wouldn’t it be good if only the bat spoke? Virat has had a glorious career who giving his best and striving for excellence, but this aggressive mindset is somewhat actually diverting his greatness with the bat from the aspiring youngsters.
The richest board didn’t take any action, as mentioned by Aakash Chopra, which was somewhat expected given the legacy of Virat Kohli and the fandom. In MCC cricket law no.42 states that any actions against an opponent that can stir the opponent is a punishable offense.
Many fans and experts would argue that it’s not a huge deal, while getting aggressive. We are forgetting perhaps that Virat Kohli has been the international icon for the youth, and most of them imitate his actions and give an example of their idol.
We can see the latest controversy of Virat Kohli- Sam Konstas in BGT 2024-25, where he accidentally or deliberately had a shoulder grudge with Konstas & that got a very bad backlash from world cricket, and the Australian media targeted Virat very brutally. During that incident, many previous clips of various countries’ players were shown, and the actions were justified, but it is often said that with a badge comes responsibility.
Also Read:Â PBKS vs RCB: Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal Hammer PBKS