Deepak Chahar added his own twist to the popular ‘note celebration’ trend during Mumbai Indians’ clash against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Wednesday night. The right-arm pacer struck in the opening over by dismissing Finn Allen with a clever delivery that immediately put KKR under pressure.
What followed caught everyone’s attention. As teammates rushed towards him to celebrate, Chahar paused, slipped both hands into his pockets and teased the crowd into expecting the now-famous note celebration. However, instead of pulling out a note, he flashed an invisible one, drawing laughter and surprise from fans and players alike.
The celebration has become increasingly common in the IPL over the last two seasons after Abhishek Sharma first introduced it during IPL 2025 as a tribute to the Orange Army. Since then, players like Raghu Sharma, Urvil Patel and Akash Singh have repeated it on different occasions. However, the gesture also drew criticism recently after Akash used it during a match against Chennai Super Kings.
It was the final ball of the first over when Finn Allen, who had already struck a couple of crisp boundaries to start on a positive note, attempted to go big once again. This time, however, he only managed to chop the delivery back onto his stumps, handing Deepak Chahar his first breakthrough of the evening.
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The dismissal brought immediate celebration as Chahar reacted with his now-viral gesture, marking a perfect start for the Mumbai Indians and setting the tone early in the pursuit of defending the 148-run target.
Cameron Green stars with ball
Earlier, KKR’s bowling attack made full use of the sluggish Eden Gardens surface to restrict Mumbai Indians to a modest 147 for 8 in a must-win IPL encounter on Wednesday. Electing to bowl first under overcast conditions on a tacky pitch that had been kept under covers, KKR struck early and often to leave MI reeling at 41 for 4 inside the powerplay.
Cameron Green led the charge with a superb all-round effort, returning figures of 2 for 23 in his three overs while also setting the tone in the field. He removed Ryan Rickelton for 6 and Naman Dhir for a duck in the space of just three deliveries, breaking the back of Mumbai’s top order.
Supporting him was left-arm pacer Saurabh Dubey, who also claimed two wickets for 34 runs, as MI struggled to build any meaningful partnerships on a surface that offered grip and uneven bounce throughout the innings.