The ‘chit celebrations’ from players of various franchises in the ongoing IPL 2026 hasn’t gone down well with many former cricketers. The latest instance of such a celebration was witnessed during the LSG vs CSK game at the Ekana Stadium on Friday when Akash Singh pulled out a note from his pocket, not once but multiple times, to celebrate the fall of every wicket that he took. And this did not sit well with former CSK star Ambati Rayudu. In fact, the former Indian cricketer went on to urge the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to ban such celebrations in IPL.
Rayudu wants chit celebrations banned in IPL 2026
Speaking on ESPNCricinfo’s ‘T20 Timeout Show’, Rayudu claimed that Akash’s stunt of pulling out a chit from his pocked and flash it in front of the camera after taking a wicket was funny and rubbish. The former CSK star dubbed the act as ‘nonsense’, and claimed that he doesn’t reckon the players are allowed to bring chits to the ground. Rayudu lashed out at Akash for even thinking that doing the chit celebration would be cool, while also bashing his peers who could have encouraged him to do so.
“I just want to know at what point today he thought, ‘hey, this will be awesome, like I’ll pull this out on TV, everybody will think I’m cool. I also want to know who his friends that he told backed him up and said that would be a great idea. I just think that’s his manifestation, it may not go down well with a lot of people, but it’s kind of funny and a bit of rubbish. I think they should ban this chit business, absolute nonsense. I don’t think they’re supposed to bring chits anyway,” Rayudu said.
Talking about Akash Singh’s performance, the LSG pacer – who made his first appearance for the side in IPL 2026 in the game against CSK – picked up 3 wickets and conceded just 26 runs from his 4 overs. He was crucial in dismantling the CSK top-order comprising of the likes of Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Urvil Patel. However, it wasn’t just Rayudu, other former cricketers, including ex-New Zealand star Mitchell McClenaghan felt that the celebration was uneeded.
“I’m actually flabbergasted with some of this generation that’s coming through, like you know, putting your fingers up on your first real performance on the IPL when you’ve only just turned up on the scene, we’ve only just learnt your name,” McClenaghan said.
This isn’t the first time that the chit celebration has been used by a player in the IPL. Last year, Abhishek Sharma brought a chit out of his pocket with a message for the SRH fans after scoring a whirlwind knock. This year, CSK’s Urvil Patel too repeated the same with a message for his father after scoring the joint-fastest half-century in the IPL.
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