Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) shot to second on the points table after their 18-run victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season in Mumbai on Saturday (April 16). Leading the charge was the LSG skipper KL Rahul, who hit an unbeaten 103 in 60 balls to take his team to a competitive score that they could easily defend.
In what was also his 100th match in the IPL, Rahul celebrated his century like he usually does - closing his eyes and shutting down his ear canals with two fingers. This special celebration only comes out when Rahul reaches the three-figure mark for club or country.
But one legend of the game was not impressed with the 29-year-old's celebration.
“He is shutting down the noise when he has got a hundred you want to take the applause. He should do this when he has scored four, five, six runs but when you got a hundred take it out, enjoy the applause. Everybody is applauding you,” Former India batter and commentator in the IPL, Sunil Gavaskar said during the mid-innings break.
Gavaskar believes that such celebrations should be for when a player is going through a lean patch and not when you are scoring heaps of runs. “I do not understand, let all the applause come through, not shut it out. You shut it out when you get out on zero, one, two, three, four or something like that. That when you put your fingers in ears,” the former India captain explained.
In the past, the opener has cleared the fact that his celebration was not meant to “disrespect anyone” but to “shut out the noise” of the people who often try to pull a player down when he is going through a difficult phase. “It (the celebration) is just to shut out the noise, not to disrespect anyone. There are people out there who try to pull you down, at times you need to neglect them. So that’s just a message to shut out that noise,” Rahul said last year after scoring a century against England.
His innings against MI included nine fours and five sixes and the LSG captain was striking the ball at a rate of 171.66. After playing a captain's knock, Rahul's brilliant use of the LSG bowlers kept the dangerous MI batters at bay.
