From mic-drops to chest rolls, cricket's best celebrations

Root scored a second consecutive century, and his 13th in one-day international cricket, against India in Leeds on Tuesday, 17 July, and proceeded to drop his bat with a swagger.

Twitter went wild, and if that’s any indication, Root’s mic-drop will be remembered for plenty of years to come.

But cricket has plenty of these iconic celebrations. Below we look at 11 of the best:

Shane Warne’s victory dance

The legendary leg-spinner’s jive on the Trent Bridge balcony after Australia’s successful Ashes tour in 1997 generated a lot of talk. The locals didn’t care for it much, but Warne’s expression of pure joy will live long in the memory.

Swann’s sprinkler

Once again, the Ashes brought out players’ creative sides. When England retained the urn in 2010, Graeme Swann led the celebrations, and found the Barmy Army in receptive mood when he did the sprinkler dance at the MCG.

Unstoppable Tahir

When Imran Tahir gets going, there’s no stopping him. The trademark, wild running follows every wicket he takes – just look at him go!

Hassan ‘explosion’ Ali

After every wicket, the Pakistan paceman emulates what seems like an explosion. It’s earned him a cult following.

Lord Ganguly

A celebration that symbolised a defiant new India – in 2002, after beating England in a thriller in the final of the NatWest series, the India captain Sourav Ganguly took his shirt off in the Lord’s balcony and waved it over his head. ****

A celebration completely out of place at the home of cricket, but cherished nonetheless.

Oppa Gangnam style

The world has the universe boss to thank for this. The jig – made famous by South Korean rapper Psy – was brought to cricket by Chris Gayle and his West Indies team-mates, and they lit up the World T20 2012 with it.

Bravo’s Champion

If it was Gangnam in 2012, it was Dwayne Bravo’s Champion in 2016. The dance inspired the West Indies – both men and women’s teams – to the World T20 2016 title, Bravo would later say.

It was an infectious, joyous jig that one simply couldn’t help doing.

The Luus dab

When Sune Luus claimed a wicket against Papua New Guinea in the Women’s World Cup Qualifier, the world was witness to a secret handshake and dab.

The Pakistan push-up

One that will be recalled over and over again. When Pakistan saw off England at Lord’s in 2016, Younis Khan led the team as they all dropped to the turf in unison and performed push-ups. It was a tribute to an army boot camp the team had attended before tour.

Shaw Force

The kids are alright. After India won the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup 2019 in New Zealand earlier this year, Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill raised their hand, and seemingly caused the rest of the team to fall in a heap. It was a choreography of the ‘Hypnosis’ celebration in Fifa 18.

The chest roll

The kids were always alright. In 2016, as the West Indies cruised to the ICC Under 19 World Cup title, they did it with typical flair. Shamar Springer introduced the world to the chest roll, and it went wild … so much that even the commentators gave it a shot!