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He adds, “There are many things influencing the youngsters and they don’t really shy away from expressing their joy. Someone like Hashim Alma hardly even raises his bat.”
The cricketers today are not just known for their performances and which actress they might be dating, they are known for being fashion icons. From ‘breaking the beard’ to owning fashion lines, they influence the youth more than one way. Does the celebration add to the persona? Former captain of the Indian women’s
cricket team Anjum Chopra agrees. She says, “It’s not just that the youngsters are doing it. Even Shoaib Akhtar used to do his ‘airplane’ celebration. But quite certainly it adds to the persona. Gestures are an extension of the personality. While some may not have one style to mark the moments, someone like David Warner jumps after every century and that’s his trademark style. Earlier people used to watch commentary on radio, now five different channels screen the matches. The audience has magnified and youngsters try to emulate everything about his or her role models. There might be more expressive form of celebration happening at club-level cricket, but they go unnoticed because they are not being screened.”
These celebrations are not like Sourav Ganguly’s once in a lifetime waving of the tee-shirt or not as mundane as Sachin Tendulkar looking at the sky to thank God and his father. However, all the experts believe that these celebrations are not pre-meditated but are spur-of-themoment. Commentator Gautam Bhimani first credits the West Indians for bringing this swag to cricket and says, “In 2012, WI team did the Gangnam Style and in 2013, when India won the Champions Trophy, Virat did the same thing. While the WI team has remained unified by its characteristic styles, in India individuals like Dhawan and Jadeja are showing their own style.” He adds, “Sword or the moustache thing, if repeated becomes a fashion but the first time it must have happened as knee-jerk reaction. Once I asked Imran Tahir about his style of running like a mad man after taking a wicket and he was like ‘What celebrations?’ Once I reminded him, he said ‘Oh! That just happens’.” The trend is rubbing from one player to another and Bhimani feels the cricketers who are next in line are watching this closely. “Some young players are bindaas and do look forward to doing something unique. Rishabh Pant, who is seen as the future, is already making headlines for his hairdo and all, I am sure he will be thinking of how he can celebrate a century for India. Or a unique wicket-keeping celebration style which is something MS Dhoni have never done.”