EX-KKR Calls Differential Treatment to Kohli via Digvesh

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra called out the differential treatment meted out to Digvesh Rathi and Virat Kohli in IPL 2025. The LSG spinner was fined twice for his aggressive send off. Meanwhile, Kohli was left untouched despite an aggressive celebration in the PBKS vs RCB clash in Mullanpur.

Why Rathi and not Kohli?

In a video on his YouTube channel, Chopra noted that Rathi had made amends to his celebration after being fined twice. However, he claimed that Kohli’s celebration during the game against PBKS was “pure aggression” but wasn’t even ‘wrapped on his knuckles”.

“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,” Chopra said.

The former IPL star cited the case of Dhoni storming into the field and being fined 50% of his match fee. He pointed out that Kohli’s reaction was something which was very much similar and questioned why he wasn’t penalized. He reckoned that the rule should be the same any player, irrespective of their stature.

“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 percent 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.