In the age of Instagram, every event has parallel histories. One for the records and one for the reels. The latest edition of the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup has been no exception, with a truckload of moments that have made us laugh, go ‘awww!’ as well as everything in between. Before India take on Australia in the World Cup final in a bid to create moments that may one day go viral on Mars, My Kolkata looks back at the most entertaining reels from cricket’s biggest tournament.
Rachin Ravindra is truly blessed!
The secret to Rachin Ravindra’s brilliance as the most prolific batter in a debut World Cup may have more to do with his dadi than his dad. With Ravindra’s dad confirming that his son was not named after Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid (see what he could have done there!), the search for the laziest explanation behind Ravindra’s exploits intensified. Step up, doting dadi, who gave Ravindra a reminder of something even more Indian than slow and low pitches — a good-old prayer ritual — when the 23-year-old visited his grandparents’ house in Bengaluru. Indian conspiracy theorists, however, hailed dadi for doing her bit for her country, for Ravindra could only make 13 runs when India met New Zealand in the first semi-final.
The Grade Cricketer predicts the World Cup final
Tired of listening to Indian uncles analysing cricket over endless glasses of insert-your-choice-of-beverage? Why not try listening to two Australian not-yet uncles analysing cricket over endless innuendos and insert-your-choice-of-cringy-music? That is exactly what The Grade Cricketer, the funniest podcast known to cricket nuts, is all about, in what is a major upgrade to Aakash Chopra’s atrocious alliterations. In this reel, Ian Higgins and Sam Perry provide the most no-holds-barred preview of the World Cup final floating through digital ether right now, sparing nobody from the pitch curators in Ahmedabad to Dua Lipa!
Ian Smith turns into Ravi Shastri!
In case you thought nobody could do a parody of Ravi Shastri quite like Ravi Shastri (nothing to do with CRED ads, of course), you would be wrong. For along came Ian Smith during the India-Netherlands match with his best impression of Shastri calling a coin toss. Full marks to Smith for the body language as well as the words, but his voice sounded more like Shastri’s would after four shots (not the cricketing kind!). Safe to say, Anjum Chopra was not the only one left in splits.
Virat Kohli cranes his neck to seek his Lady Love!
On the day he reached a record-making 50th ODI century in Mumbai, Virat Kohli had less trouble finding the boundary than he had finding Anushka Sharma. Having already changed out of his match kit, Kohli seemed far more interested in watching his wife than the action in the middle. As several Kohli fans captioned it on social media: “The whole world is looking at him, but he’s looking at her”. Brownie points to Rohit Sharma for not even bothering to keep track of Kohli’s movements beside him.
Virushka setting impossible couple goals on Diwali
If you thought you had a memorable Diwali with your better half, you did not. For no matter what you did, you most certainly did not rejoice a World Cup wicket together in front of the whole world, with one of you on the field and the other one in the stands. Trust Kohli and Anushka Sharma to create impossible couple goals with a special Diwali celebration at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium to mark Kohli’s first World Cup wicket. And trust the internet to keep melting time and again, for Virushka have had more World Cup highlights this year than Pakistan and England combined!
Kuldeep Yadav speaks to David Beckham about football
In the Mumbai-verse of Madness, it was not easy to be David Beckham on Tuesday. While everyone from influencer royalty to Shah Rukh Khan posed for pics with Golden Balls, Kuldeep Yadav was only interested in talking about Becks's biggest passion. No, not sportswashing, but football. In one of those split-second chats that covered more topics than your teacher did whenever you were absent in school, Yadav left Beckham impressed with his footballing IQ. The best part? Yadav’s reminder to Beckham that Lionel Messi is the best in the world, as if Beckham himself was not handing the Ballon d’Or to the Argentine just a few weeks back!
Ponting and Ganguly reminisce about 2003…or so we think
“Hi, Sourav, remember what happened in 2003? Fancy a repeat 20 years later, mate?”
“Yes, Ricky. A repeat of the toss? Yes. Not the result.”
“Have you told Rohit Sharma what not to do on Sunday then?”
“Yes, I’ve told him to not follow your lead from 2006 by shoving the BCCI president out of the way when he collects the trophy.”
“Well done, Dada. See you never.”
“See you in the Delhi Capitals’ dugout, Punter!”
This exchange, of course, is entirely imaginary. Just like the camaraderie between the men in question!
