Push-up celebration promotes a negative image of Pakistan: PML leader Rana Afzal

A parliamentary committee on Wednesday expressed reservations over cricket players doing push-ups to celebrate victories during matches. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MNA Rana Afzal raised the issue, saying players should perform nafl prayers or do sajdas rather than push-ups. Push-ups became a popular form of celebrating personal feats among Pakistani players during their tour of England following their training camp with the Pakistan Army.

However, the PML-N MNA said cricket is “a gentleman’s game” and the act of doing push-ups does not reflect the calibre of the sport. “Push-up celebration promotes a negative image of Pakistan and needs to be revisited,” Khan said.

To this, PCB official Najam Sethi assured that players no longer celebrate victories with push-ups. “It only happened during the England tour and won’t happen again,” Sethi said.

Test skipper Misbah ul Haq started this trend which now famous among Pakistan cricketers. The Test skipper celebrated his century at Lord’s during the tour of England in July. After completing the ton, Misbah, with intentions of paying respect to Pakistan army, did 10 pushups as a part of his celebration.

Misbah later said: “The celebrations were nothing to do with England, only a gesture for those we worked with.”

After Lord’s victory, members of the national side also performed push-ups to celebrate. And the exercise was again performed later in the series by Azhar Ali for his century and by Sohail Khan for his five-for