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Journalism of Courage
When it comes to cricket, it not just spectacular catches or wickets and historical feats that catches the attention of sports lover. Many a time, expressions and celebrations of cricketers garner a lot of attention as well; and when it’s meme-worthy, you can’t really blame them. So, when Bangladesh’s star player Mushfiqur Rahim broke into an impromptu naagin dance on the field, cricket lovers and Tweeple following the match were left in splits. Rahim could not control his emotions after hitting the winning runs against Sri Lanka, helping his team chase down a record 215 runs. In in the moment, the exuberant player showed off some of his quirky moves and it was enough to light up the micro-blogging site.
Soon, not only videos of his snake-style dance went viral, with hundreds retweeting and liking it, but it was turned into a meme as well. Indian Twitterati, in particular, couldn’t keep calm and started sharing photos of television’s favourite naagin played by Mouni Roy, and couldn’t decide who did it better.
https://twitter.com/indicboy/status/972705345125543936
https://twitter.com/Binakahelunga/status/972535113551568896
https://twitter.com/46Sampath/status/972539378869456896
https://twitter.com/cricfreakz/status/972734358862704640
https://twitter.com/1sInto2s/status/972544726942466048
https://twitter.com/Bhai_Saaheb/status/972529635689775104
https://twitter.com/imFarheenRizvi/status/972538260609093632
And, in case you are wondering what led to this spontaneous celebration, turns out there’s a back story too. During the press conference later, Tamim Iqbal said that the celebration style actually originated from a fellow Bangladesh player Nazmul Islam Opu. “We have a left arm spinner in Nazmul Islam Opu and it is his celebration. Whenever he gets a wicket, in domestic cricket or Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), he does this snake dance. It was quite funny. I think Mushfaqir Rahim showed it to him and we knew who he was doing the celebration for. We take a lot of pride in playing with Opu and whenever he takes a wicket, we enjoy it a lot,” said Tamim. “Unfortunately he hasn’t taken a wicket yet so when he does, you will get to see how he dances,” he added.
