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Cricket Players‘Will try this at home’: Ex-West Indies cricketers' out of this world reaction to Shikhar Dhawan celebration
Shikhar Dhawan slapped his thighs and raised his hand in the air after taking the catch of Nicholas Pooran. It was then that Sammy came up with a new name for Dhawan's celebration.
What started after an altercation with former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson about ten years ago has now become a trademark every time Shikhar Dhawan takes a catch on the cricket field. Be it in the IPL or playing for India, Dhawan breaks into his Kabaddi-inspired slapping the thigh celebration after taking a catch. The left-hander who was leading India in the three-match ODI series in regular captain Rohit Sharma's absence got an opportunity to bring out his famous celebration not once but thrice in the third and final ODI of the series at the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain Trinidad. And Dhawan's Kabaddi celebration was quite the topic of discussion in the commentary box between former West Indies cricketers Dareen Sammy and Darren Ganga.
Sammy, the two-time T20 World Cup-winning captain, and former opening batter Ganga were in the commentary box when Prasidh Krishna got the big wicket of West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran. In the 22nd over of the West Indies chase in the rain-curtailed match, Pooran mistimed his pull shot and gave Dhawan a simple catch at mid-on. The India captain slapped his thighs and raised his hand in the air after taking the catch. It was then that Sammy came up with a new name for Dhawan's celebration.
"We should call this thigh-five," Sammy said followed by a laugh. "Would you ever try this?" he asked fellow commentator Ganga. "I will try this at home," he replied.
"I enjoy watching Kabaddi. It is very entertaining for me. I do this with all my heart and that’s why maybe people also like it. Whenever I stand at the boundary, fans see me and re-enact my kabaddi-style celebration,” Dhawan had said in an episode of Breakfast With Champions explaining his celebration.
India won the match quite comfortably by 119 runs (via DLS method) to complete a 3-0 sweep as Dhawan became the first Indian captain to inflict a whitewash in an ODI series in the Caribbean. Previously, India had whitewashed Zimbabwe (thrice) and Sri Lanka in their own backyard.
India will next play five T20Is against the West Indies starting on Friday.
