After losing the first Test against South Africa in Cape Town, Indian team players - KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya shared a light moment off the field to lift the sagging spirits of the visiting team. For quite some time now, Team India’s unwinding mantra has been the 'dab dance', which is made popular by Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba. Known to share a great off-field camaraderie, the gen-next of the Indian team gets engaged in a dab competition to lighten up the mood in the visiting camp after getting beaten in the first Test by 72 runs on Monday.
In a recent post shared by KL Rahul on his Instagram account, the 25-year old batsman is seen shaking a leg with all-rounder Hardik Pandya and opener Murali Vijay. Not letting go the competitive spirit of a sportsman here as well, he has captioned the videos, “Who did it better? #dabstagram”. And the replies to the post are hinting that it’s Hardik who is winning the “dabstagram” game.
While playing against Sri Lanka in August last year, captain Virat Kohli and Rahul did some similar celebrations after completing their respective tons. As far as the cricket world is concerned, the dab celebration is not a new concept despite it being picked up by the football players. Australia’s Usman Khawaja brought it out earlier last year when he got a half-century against Pakistan while his teammate Moises Henriques had done the same in the Sheffield Shield match.
All-rounder Pandya scored a brilliant 93 off 95 in the first innings of the Cape Town Test against South Africa in order to bail India out from a precarious situation. Whereas, Rahul did not get a chance to play in the first Test but he is expected to be back in action after the batting failure.
