“The only thing Rishabh bhai and the management have told me is ‘you continue being your most authentic self, but just don’t get banned.'”
Every now and then, a rookie arrives in the IPL and makes an impression that is difficult to ignore. Last year, that rookie was Digvesh Rathi.
You’d be forgiven for thinking it was the celebrations or his attitude that made him stand out. Instead, it was his skills – the carrom ball, the googly, the stump-to-stump line – that truly did.Rathi grabbed 14 wickets last season, but ESPNcricinfo’s SmartStats counted his contribution as 19.5 wickets once the value of those scalps was factored in. Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Jos Buttler, Shreyas Iyer, Ryan Rickelton, Axar Patel, Prabhsimran Singh (twice) and his friend Priyansh Arya were just some of the names Rathi added to his..err…notebook.
Now set to play his second season of the IPL for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Rathi finds himself as the franchise’s lead spinner following the exit of Ravi Bishnoi. He says the added responsibility is something he relishes.
“Last year, I bowled well and Ravi bhai didn’t have a great season,” Rathi tells ESPNcricinfo. “But in my mind, I never really believed in the concept of lead spinner or lead bowler or main bowler. I just believe in taking responsibility and delivering on it.
“Whether it’s Test cricket, ODIs or T20s, a good ball will always be a good ball. If a batter can read you, he will play shots against you, so all you need to ensure is you have a plan in your head when you have the ball in your hand at your run-up.”
Rathi’s mental resilience is one of his most attractive traits. The way he did not get overawed last season bowling to the best batters and the manner in which he didn’t mind going toe-to-toe against batters of big reputation were standout features of his debut IPL season. Rathi traces that to the cricketing education he received on the grounds of Delhi, where your value is often measured by how long you can stand toe-to-toe before crumbling.
“I said in an interview some days ago. Delhi boys don’t like to lose,” Rathi says. “I adjusted quickly to the rigors of IPL cricket because of my background in Delhi cricket. Grounds in Delhi are not big and the most dangerous batters in the IPL are from Delhi itself, so when I started to play, those batters would whack us a lot, often scoring 400-500 runs in 40 overs.
“So when a bowler gets hit out of the park, he goes back to the nets and works even harder because they are shocked and thinking ‘did that just happen to me?’ That was the story with me too. So when a person works that hard in the background, then the attitude to thinking of winning instead of being scared comes automatically.”
Rathi: ‘If a batter can celebrate after scoring a hundred by putting their helmet on top of their bat and so on, then I can celebrate too’•BCCI
Technically, Rathi comes into the season much stronger because of the influence of Carl Crowe.
Crowe is LSG’s new spin-bowling coach having moved from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) between seasons. He is also the long-time coach of Sunil Narine, Rathi’s own cricketing idol.
Rathi spent some weeks with Crowe and another one of LSG’s new bowling coaches, Bharat Arun, in the lead-up to IPL 2026 during an LSG camp for domestic cricketers in Chennai. He can’t wait to unleash what he has developed in those camps.
“I was a net bowler at KKR when I first met Narine but I never asked him for any tips. That’s because I have seen more bowling of Narine on YouTube than Narine has seen of himself, so I feel like I know his bowling inside-out,” Rathi says. “That’s where I first met Carl Crowe too, and I remember him telling me back then that an IPL gig would just be around the corner. So, it is exciting to be able to have Carl by my side this season.
Reflecting on the 12 months between IPLs, Rathi says the only real change is that people now recognise him when he trains in Delhi. Hard work beats talent, his long-time coach Sachin Shukla had once said to sum up Rathi and the spinner intends to keep following that mantra. “I don’t think or care about fame,” Rathi says.
“I said in an interview some days ago. Delhi boys don’t like to lose. I adjusted quickly to the rigors of IPL cricket because of my background in Delhi cricket.”
However, one decision of Rathi’s that raised eyebrows late last year was his acceptance of an INR 30 lakh deal – the base price at which he was bought last season – to be retained by LSG. He knows he would’ve fetched more money had he asked to be released and gone back to the auction pool, but said he wanted to do right by the team that gave him his first break.
“I had been giving trials for two seasons across six or seven teams. And those trials had gone well. But nobody bought me in IPL 2023 or 2024. In fact my name didn’t even come up at the auction in those years,” he says. “But the team that bought me, there was no way I was going to tell them ‘I won’t play for you now’. LSG were with me in my bad days, so I will be with them in my good days. That’s why there was never any question of me leaving or going to the auction pool, even if my price tag stayed at INR 30 lakh.”
And as for the big question – on whether Rathi will rein in his celebrations this season given his history with match-referees, demerit points and fines last season – he promises that isn’t going away.
“That was my first year and I didn’t know the expectations,” Rathi said. “I didn’t intend to disrespect anyone then and neither do I want to now. But nobody can stop me from celebrating. If a batter can celebrate after scoring a hundred by putting their helmet on top of their bat and so on, then I can celebrate too.”
Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sreshthx
