Digvesh Rathi gets half the match fee fined, while Virat Kohli gets a free pass. BCCI’s double standard exposed

Aakash Chopra, a former India cricketer, has questioned the fairness of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Earlier in IPL 2025, young Digvesh Rathi was fined twice for his ‘notebook’ celebration. However, when star Indian cricketer Virat Kohli showed aggression against PBKS, he faced no consequence.

Kohli’s aggressive celebration

In the recent match between the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and the Punjab Kings at Mullanpur in Chandigarh, RCB won. Chasing a modest target of 158, RCB reached the target with 7 balls to spare and 7 wickets in hand. Virat Kohli was the Player of the Match for his brilliant unbeaten knock of 73 runs.

As Jitesh Sharma hit the winning runs for RCB, Kohli turned to PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer and celebrated aggressively. It was an in-your-face celebration, which also created a tense scene between the two.

Aakash Chopra questions BCCI

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has now questioned why the BCCI took no action against Kohli for his aggression. In a video on his YouTube channel, Chopra asked why Kohli didn’t face any action, while Digvesh Rathi was fined twice for his notebook celebration.

“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,” Chopra said.

“Then we saw Virat Kohli’s celebration at the end of the PBKS-RCB 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 added.

The Dhoni incident

Chopra recalled an incident featuring former India captain MS Dhoni in the IPL. Dhoni was fined half his match fee for entering the ground once. “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 per cent 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 said.

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