Former India batter Ambati Rayudu tore into Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) pacer Akash Singh for his ‘chit’ celebration during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Ekana on Friday. The left-arm pacer played his first game of the IPL 2026 season, returning with three wickets – Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Urvil Patel. After dismissing all three batters, Akash displayed a chit in front of the crowd; however, this celebration has now ruffled a few feathers.
At first, it was not clear what was written on the chit. However, later replays showed that the text on the piece of paper read, “#Akkionfire – Akash knows how to take wickets in a T20 game.”
However, this piece of celebration hasn’t been well received by former players such as Rayudu, Dale Steyn and Mitchell McClenaghan. Earlier, Steyn had taken to social media to say that this chit business needs to go, as no one really wants to see it.
Rayudu has now commented similarly, saying Akash’s celebration was just “rubbish” and “nonsense.” He went a step further, urging the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to ban this chit celebration.
“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,” said Rayudu on ESPNCricinfo’s ‘T20 Timeout’ Show.
“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,” he added.
‘Flabbergasted’
Former New Zealand pacer McClenaghan echoed Rayudu’s sentiment, saying he couldn’t understand why Akash would do such a celebration, considering he has played very few games and the match against CSK was his first in the IPL 2026 season.
“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.
“It’s like, jeez, how many haters have you got, bro? You’ve played four games. I just find it all fascinating, it’s really interesting,” he added.
Speaking of Akash, he had also explained the reason for displaying a note against CSK, saying the text on the paper just gave him motivation, and there was nothing more to it than that.
“It just gives me motivation. There is no reason behind it. Whatever motivates me during the game, I’ll keep backing it,” Akash told the broadcaster.
Speaking of the LSG vs CSK game, the former came out on top by seven wickets after Mitchell Marsh played a whirlwind knock of 90.