© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
India thrashed West Indies in the first T20I in Hyderabad on Friday, not only successfully chasing down the total of 208 but also breaking many records in the process. But, it was skipper Virat Kohli’s fiery performance that got everyone talking online. The ace player showed off his batting aggression on the field yet again and knocked off his highest T20I score of 94 runs off 50 balls. It wasn’t just his innings, but also his celebratory ‘notebook’ gesture that took social media by storm.
During the match, Kohli was seen imitating Windies’ bowler Kesrick Williams’ trademark celebration style of signing off a notebook, and the audience couldn’t cheer any louder — both in the stands and online. In the 16th over of India’s innings, Kohli was seen mimicking Williams’ ‘notebook’ celebration after hitting him for a six.
The skipper’s gesture quickly became a hit fodder for memes online. As #ViratKohli and #KingKohli started trending, desi meme-makers were quick to draw parallels of his celebrations and compare it with swiping a big right on dating app, to writing a big cheque for buying onions.
Some started a photoshop battle with the images, and now Kohli can be seen doing a host of things, including performing tricks as a magician, flying kites, making tea and bursting firecrackers! Sample these:
https://twitter.com/desimojito/status/1203004876885610496
https://twitter.com/Rajsiingh/status/1202994884732313600
https://twitter.com/rishav_sharma1/status/1203022157489393664
https://twitter.com/ladywithflaws/status/1203013317377191936
In the post-match conference, Kohli said: “It’s not the CPL (about Williams’ celebration), it happened to me in Jamaica when he got me out. So I thought I’ll tick a few in the notebook as well, but all good. There were a few words, but smiles at the end. That’s what you want to see. Good competitive cricket but in the end shake hands and give a hi-fi. That’s what cricket is all about. Play it hard but have respect for opponents.”
