Love him or hate him but you simply cannot ignore Digvesh Rathi. The 25-year-old leg-spinner from Lucknow Super Giants embraced his “villain arc” till the very end of LSG’s IPL 2025 campaign and owned it quite unapologetically. While Rishabh Pant’s Lucknow may have not tasted success this season, Rathi’s on-field antics and eccentric notebook celebrations made watchers tune in to LSG contests in huge numbers to see what the bowler was up to this time. But when Lucknow met Royal Challengers Bangalore in the former’s final outing in this year’s IPL, things took an ugly turn. The leg-spinner’s Instagram account has now been flooded with hundreds and thousands of comments from trolls. But why? Mankad Attempt Upon noticing that RCB captain Jitesh Sharma was leaving the crease on the non-striker’s end, Rathi stopped in his tracks and decided to disturb the bails. Sharma was short of his ground and the on-field umpire chose to go upstairs. The TV umpire concluded that the RCB captain was, in fact, not out. This was followed by LSG skipper Rishabh Pant “withdrawing” his appeal. Sharma embraced Pant. IPL commentators called the moment “good sportsmanship”. Rathi looked disappointed. This was a crucial stage in the match as RCB needed 29 off 19 to book a spot in the Qualifier 1. Also Read: Rishabh Pant’s Final Outing For LSG Opened The Floodgate Of Memes, Here’s Why Instagram Attack Rathi’s Instagram account saw an uptick in comments, assumedly left by RCB fans, soon after the spinner’s attempt at Mankading Bengaluru captain Sharma. “Signature trademark celebration on no ball,” read one comment. “After Today’s match Digvesh Aura –9999 (sic).” “Jitesh Sharma respect.” The troll comments kept on coming. Digvesh Rathi Instagram Comment Section. pic.twitter.com/vhZVItw3iC — VIKAS (@VikasYadav69014) May 28, 2025 It’s worth noting that the Instagram account mentioned above, seemingly Rathi’s, has not been verified by the photo and video-sharing platform. Although the Instagram handle (@digvesh_74) has indeed “collaborated” with the LSG franchise’s official account in a few posts, News18.com could not confirm if the account flooded with a barrage of comments belonged to the bowler. Ashwin Lashes Out At Pant To nobody’s surprise, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin made his stance clear about Rishabh Pant “humiliating” and “sidelining” his bowler in front of millions of viewers. Ashwin famously stood his ground when the cricket world was divided, mostly against him for running Jos Buttler out at the non-striker’s end during an IPL game between Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings. Ashwin believed Pant “withdrawing” his appeal shattered Rathi’s confidence. “Captain’s job is actually to back a player. A captain’s job is not to make a bowler feel small. By making this decision of pulling away an appeal, ye pehle karna chahiye tha (should have discussed earlier),” Ashwin said. He further said: “We don’t know if they discussed, but let’s stop this vilification of that youngster in front of crores and crores of people. Do we do that to anybody else? Why does a bowler look small? It is actually a humiliation.” Also Read: Digvesh ‘Kaleshi’ Rathi’s Return Against RCB Has Brought Out The Notebooks, Here’s Why “So what happens is a bowler feels so small that he will never do that again. People will say that he should never do that (run out at the non-striker’s end) again. Why should he not do that? It is actually not about the rule. The batsman taking an extra step gives him an opportunity to finish a two.” Rathi On Demerit Speedrun If you have just tuned in, Rathi collected demerit points during IPL 2025 like they were the infinity stones. His characteristic notebook celebrations after dismissing a batter brought him plenty of attention and a range of sanctions from the IPL body. In the notebook celebration, popularised by West Indian Kesrick Williams, the bowler would take out an imaginary notebook, write the name of the batter, and check it off the list. Priyansh Arya of Punjab Kings was Rathi’s first victim. During the match between LSG and PBKS, Rathi brought out the notebook to send off his Delhi mate Arya. The act earned him one demerit point. Rathi was just getting started. Giving Mumbai Indians’ Naman Dhir a sendoff, the notebook celebration brought double trouble for the long-haired cricketer. This time, he was handed two demerit points, taking his tally to three. He was also losing a portion of his match fees while receiving these penalty points, no less. During a game between LSG and SRH played on May 19, Rathi’s provocative celebration did not sit well with SRH batter Abhishek Sharma. This led to an on-field spat. The LSG bowler, already drowning in fines, was given an additional two demerit points. Five demerit points eventually led to a one-match suspension as the LSG spinner was handed a match ban for his repeated violation of the cricket rulebook. Love From Fans Getting battered left, right, and centre for sticking to his natural game, a section of IPL fans backed Rathi’s antics and hailed him for bringing a lot of character to the LSG camp. “Digvesh Rathi is a proper badass guy , cricket needs these kind of gangster guyss , otherwise game will become boring, (sic)” wrote a user on ‘X’. Another IPL fan wrote: “Digvesh Rathi is my favourite uncapped player this IPL season. What a character equally backed by performance. Bro tries everything to win the game for his team.” “IPL needs more characters like him to keep the league spicy and alive. Digvesh Rathi, you’re a superstar,” chimed in a third.