Last Saturday, moments after India defeated South Africa by just seven runs in the final to win the T20 World Cup trophy and concluded their hour-long celebrations at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, a video of captain Rohit Sharma went viral on social media. It was about the way he walked before receiving the T20 World Cup trophy from BCCI Secretary General Jay Shah. The common claim was that Rohit was recreating Lionel Messi’s iconic moment at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but WWE legend Ric Flair has put the story to bed with video evidence.
In a video that went viral, Kuldeep Yadav was seen telling Rohit at the medal ceremony about the way Messi celebrated winning the trophy after Argentina beat France to win the World Cup trophy in the final in Qatar two years ago. Rohit then tried to go through with it, which many on social media agreed with. Flair, however, thought it was more of a “Ric Flair swagger”.
Speaking on Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, the two-time WWE Hall of Famer tweeted, “.@ImRo45 You took a page out of my playbook! Wow!”
Three days later, the 16-time world champion recreated Rohit’s viral celebration to prove that it was indeed “the Ric Flair strut.” He captioned the video, “A global sensation! Woah!”
Rohit played a key role in India’s T20 World Cup victory, scoring 257 runs in eight innings, the second-highest scoring batsman in the tournament. After India’s top-order collapsed in the powerplay and led to early dismissals, India relied on Virat Kohli and the former India captain delivered when it mattered most despite struggling to find rhythm throughout the tournament. Kohli scored 76 off 59 balls and his 72 with Akshar Patel sealed the victory, setting India a target of 177.
India were under pressure as Heinrich Klaassen scored an electrifying fifty to take them to 25 for 25 but the bowlers bounced off the pressure in the death overs to restrict South Africa to the target of seven runs.
This was India’s second T20 World Cup win, their first world title in 13 years and their first ICC Trophy in 11 years.