At the start of IPL 2025, Lucknow Super Giants were hit harder than any other team with injuries. Mohsin Khan was out of the tournament, and Mayank Yadav was injured. Both were part of LSG’s retained core. Another retention, Ravi Bishnoi, has gone at 11.9 runs per over in four games, picking up only three wickets. Avesh Khan and Akash Deep too missed games. The addition of Shardul Thakur lent some experience to the attack, but the spin flag has been kept flying thanks to the previously little-known Digvesh Rathi. The 25-year-old leggie had played only two T20 games for Delhi before the IPL, and was picked up for his base price of INR 30 lakh in the mega auction. But just four games in, he has become the man to watch in LSG’s bowling attack. He befuddled a star-studded Mumbai Indians with 4-0-21-1 in a close 12-run win.
Here’s the lowdown on Digvesh.
The obsessive bowler
To say Digvesh loves bowling is an understatement. He lives and breathes it. According to LSG coach Justin Langer, “If he could bowl for 16 hours a day, he would bowl for 16 hours a day. He probably bowls in the corridor of the hotel. He bowls at breakfast, he bowls in the shower, he bowls everywhere.”
It’s an obsession that Langer is clearly a fan of. “All the great cricketers, they loved practicing, and he is being rewarded for years and years of practice. And now he’s in the big league, and that practice is starting to pay off. He’s got an unbelievable work ethic when it comes to bowling.”
And Digvesh hasn’t unveiled his full repertoire yet. “The day before the last two games, we just go together out the back into the B ground, and he bowls into my baseball mitt,” Langer said. “And he’s always working on something different.”
The Sunil Narine fan
When Digvesh first saw Sunil Narine bowl, he knew he had found his calling. “I saw Sunil Narine bowl, and since then I’ve loved bowling,” he said when receiving his Player of the Match award. “I want to make my mindset more attacking, like Sunil Narine. The way he handles pressure situations, he stays calm there too. I also want to do that.”
The very next match for LSG is against KKR at the Eden Gardens on April 8, so Digvesh will have a chance to go up against his idol. And against Varun Chakravarthy too, another bowler Digvesh admires.
It’s a prospect Langer is relishing. “I can’t wait to watch this. Seriously, because of Kolkata’s two spinners, and both of them, he idolises,” Langer said. “Watch how he runs into bowl. Who does he look like? Sunil Narine, right? So he always has something different, and he thinks a lot about the game. He thinks a lot about how he’s going to get the opposition out. I think that’s why he’s got a bright future.”
The journey so far
Digvesh was in LSG teammate Ayush Badoni’s team, South Delhi Superstarz, in the Delhi Premier League’s first edition in 2024. He picked up 14 wickets in 10 matches, the highest for his team, as they lost narrowly in the final. He was then picked up in the mega auction, and in the same week, he made his debut for Delhi too. Then he was pitchforked into the IPL, and on debut against Delhi Capitals, he returned 2 for 31 in a high-scoring game. He had walked in as an unknown, but his performance established him in the XI.
In his third game, he got into the face of Delhi teammate Priyansh Arya, giving him a Kesrick Williams’ style ‘sign-the-book’ send-off, which earned him a 25% match fee and a demerit point. But that didn’t affect his bowling. The very next game was against MI, and he had 3-0-10-1 by the 12th over. Seeing how he was unreadable, Rishabh Pant held him back for a death over too. His wicket of a rampaging Naman Dhir for 46 (24) first brought LSG into the match. Digvesh initially wanted a midwicket, but Pant told him to try bowling without one at first. That meant Digvesh needed to tempt Dhir to hit towards midwicket, and he landed the perfect carom ball that snuck through bat and pad when Dhir attempted to do exactly that. He repeated his ‘sign-the-book’ celebration, this time not getting near the batsman. However, he might need to shelve it, because it earned him a 50% fine this time, and two more demerit points.
That might be the only thing Digvesh needs to change going forward. Because his work ethic, his bag of tricks and his love for bowling are completely on point.
