Indian cricket superstar Virat Kohli mimics Cristiano Ronaldo's celebration in ODI game against Australia
Indian cricket superstar Virat Kohli replicated Cristiano Ronaldo's iconic celebration while celebrating a wicket against Australia in the first One Day International (ODI) match between the two teams on Friday, March 17.
Mohammed Siraj took India's first wicket as he bowled Travis Head with a searing in-swinger in the second over. This reduced Australia to 5/1 and laid the foundation upon which the Indian bowlers bundled out the opposition for just 188 runs.
While celebrating Head's wicket, Virat Kohli mimicked Cristiano Ronaldo's 'nap' celebration while Siraj did the Portuguese icon's iconic 'Siu' celebration. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner first did the former while celebrating a goal against Everton in October.
He scored in his team's 2-1 Premier League win against the Toffees, which marked his 700th goal in club football - the first player to reach the milestone. An excerpt explaining this new celebration on the club's official website read (h/t TalkSPORT):
"CR7’s celebration at Everton was amusingly a nod to the position in which he sleeps when travelling with the squad, which hasn’t gone unnoticed by his team-mates who are all eager to learn from him."
Kohli's team, meanwhile, went on to comfortably chase down the target with 61 balls and five wickets left. The 34-year-old, however, made just four runs off nine balls before being given LBW from a Mitchell Starc delivery.
The win at the Wankhede put the Men in Blue 1-0 ahead in the three-match ODI series. The two teams will face off in the second ODI at the Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy Cricket Stadium tomorrow (March 19).
What Virat Kohli said after Cristiano Ronaldo's unofficial debut in Saudi Arabia vs PSG
Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United by mutual consent in November. After weeks of speculation, he put pen to paper on a two-and-a-half-year contract as a player with Al-Nassr in late December.
For many, this indicated that the five-time UEFA Champions League winner accepted that his days at the top were over. He made his unofficial debut in Saudi Arabia in a friendly match against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on January 19.
Cristiano Ronaldo, while taking the pitch for Riyadh All-Star XI, scored twice but could not prevent his team from losing 5-4. After the game, Indian cricket team icon Virat Kohli posted an Instagram story with a photo of the 38-year-old, writing (h/t Hindustan Times):
"Still doing it at the highest level at 38. The football experts sitting and criticising him every week for attention are conveniently quiet now that he's put in this kind of performance against one of the top clubs in the world. And he was apparently finished."