Misbah-ul-Haq became the oldest Test centurion in the last 82 years of cricket in the first innings of the Lord’s Test against England, and followed it up by dropping to his knees and doing a series of ten rapid push ups. He said later that this had been a tribute to the boot camps the team had gone through with the Pakistan army before the England tour, but his gesture has had more repercussions than the simple acknowledgement he had intentioned it to be.
One cannot know if Misbah had anticipated this, but fans have been raving as much about how a 42-year-old could be showing such fitness as how he could have scored a Test century at the age. The only similar feat (the century, the push ups have no like) from recent years has been Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s century against Bangladesh in 2014 at the age of 40, which landmark had not been marked by such an emphatic celebration.
The whole Pakistan team followed suit with the presses after the visitors claimed a victory in the 1st Test, buoyed by the first innings masterclass from captain Misbah and the leg spin of Yasir Shah. Some England players have expressed annoyance at the whole team doing push ups after the win, but this has a lot to do with the bitterness of defeat of course.
The push up has been one of the biggest talking points of the England-Pakistan series, but the push up celebration has gone beyond the boundaries of the match. A #MisbahPushUp Challenge has been initiated, and there are many people tagging each other on Twitter and Facebook, challenging them to do a series of push ups.
An U15 cricket team in Karachi have been seen doing the push ups in synchronisation, like their senior national team did after the win.
Ahmed Shahzad, who is currently out of the side after having found to have disciplinary issues, also uploaded a video that showed him doing a series of ten push ups. ‘Pakistan team, this is for you’, he says as he does the routine in an indoor location.
TV commentators David Lloyd and Michael Vaughan jumped into proceedings as well, beating their age to indulge in rapid push ups. On the morning of the second day’s play, with Misbah the man himself warming up nearby, Lloyd dropped to the ground and began the push ups. Not showing any signs of stopping or slowing down even after ten, it was Misbah himself who walked up to the man and put his hand on his back and asked him to stop. The two then embraced and congratulated each other, the only sign of what had just happened being a slight increase in colour on Lloyd’s face.
The Pakistan cricket team have been encouraging fans to take up the challenge, not that the trend needed any extra push.
If it was the Ice Bucket Challenge that had raised some eyebrows two years ago, the latest trend is the Misbah Push Up Challenge. There are many on the social media right now who do not know why everybody is suddenly posting videos of them doing ten push ups.
And we thought DJ Bravo’s Champion dance would be the most imagination catching cricket celebration of the year!
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