The Best of 2017: 5 Cricketing images that went viral

In this day and age where technology is dominating the world, each and every act on the cricket ground or the happenings in the personal life of the players gets captured in the camera and in 2017, there were a number of cricketing moments which were worth capturing.

Whether it’s Pakistan’s celebrations after the Champions Trophy final, the Sri Lankan cricketers taking the field wearing masks in the Delhi Test match against India or the Australian cricketers kissing that precious little Ashes urn after winning the WACA Test match.

The cricketing universe came across some brilliant moments through the year. We have bring to you 5 such moments from 2017 which were captured in the camera and caught most eyeballs:

1. Dhoni taking a nap on the ground

The performance of the Sri Lankan cricket team this year was awful to say the least and their fans seemed to have lost patience completely during the third match of the ODI series against India which was played at Pallekele. The hosts were already 0-2 down in the series and were on the verge of losing the third one too as MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma were going really strong with an unbeaten century partnership for the 5th wicket.

The target of 218 was well and truly within the reach of the Indians as they were just a couple of shots away and the crowd had had enough. They angrily started hurling bottles and other objects on the ground which put the Sri Lankan players fielding in the deep at risk of getting hurt. The umpires had to stop the play and had to call the fielders in the centre of the ground to make sure nobody was hurt while the security officials tried to take control of the situation.

There was complete chaos in the stadium, but amidst all that MS Dhoni, being the Iceman that he is, used it as an opportunity to give his body a bit of rest in the ground as he lied flat on his stomach near the pitch and napped for good 3-4 minutes. The pictures of MSD taking a power nap went viral on social media and the fans of the former Indian captain absolutely loved it.

2. Ritika’s emotions after Rohit scored his third double ton

Rohit Sharma’s better half Ritika often travels with him during the tours and she has also been seen in the stadium cheering her husband many times. Lady luck seems to be shining pretty bright on Rohit as whenever she watches him live, the Hitman comes up with stunning knocks and guides India to memorable wins.

One such occasion was the second game of the recently contested ODI series between India and Sri Lanka. It was their second marriage anniversary and Rohit made the day even more special for his missus as he put his full repertoire of shots on display and enhanced his own world record of scoring the maximum number of double hundreds in ODI cricket.

Rohit scored unbeaten 209 runs for India and became the first player in the history of the game to score three double hundreds in ODI cricket. It was an important inning from the team’s point of view as well as they had lost the opening game of the series and needed something like that from their captain to post a huge target on the board for Sri Lanka to chase which they did and ended up winning the match convincingly.

But the most talked about moment of that game was Ritika’s reaction when Rohit completed his double century. She was flooded with emotions and literally could not control her tears when Rohit gestured towards her kissing his wedding ring. He gave her the best possible anniversary gift and Mrs Sharma was clearly having a hard time holding her emotions back. Her expressions were captured in the camera and went viral on social media immediately as the fans went gaga over the chemistry of the couple.

3. Virushka marriage picture

Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma had a secret marriage far away from home in Tuscany, Italy. Nobody had the idea before the day of the marriage. There were speculations that the families of both Virat and Anushka were in Italy and they were set to tie the knot. However, nothing credible had come out to make people believe that the news was indeed true.

It was eventually Anushka herself who put a picture on her Twitter account on 11th of December announcing her marriage with the Indian captain and the couple promised each other to stay together for the entire lifetime and to have each other’s back through the thick and thin.

Both Anushka and Virat looked extremely happy in the picture as they had a broad smile on their faces and why not? That picture absolutely set the internet on fire as it soon became the display picture of numerous Virushka fans. The tweet from Virat and Anushka, in fact, was the most retweeted post of the year getting over 91,000 RTs and 545k likes.

4. Virat’s sporting spirit

India lost to Pakistan in the final of the Champions Trophy against all the odds. While Pakistan played some high-quality cricket in that tournament, it was India who were the favourites because of the quality and experience that they possessed in the lineup.

Everyone backed the Men in Blue to get the better of Pakistan and retain the title that they had won in 2013, but it wasn’t to be as they not only lost the final but lost it by a big, big margin of 180 runs. They were absolutely decimated by the neighbours in all facets of the game on that particular night. It was easily one of India’s biggest loses in the last decade or so considering the stage it had come at and needless to say it was a devastating time for Virat Kohli as well as the whole Indian team.

But Virat’s sporting spirit stood out that night. Despite suffering a loss, the Indian captain made sure he stayed gracious in defeat as he went out there to congratulate the Pakistani boys and even cracked a few jokes with them. The picture of Virat laughing with the Pakistani team spread all over the internet and while some people praised him for his attitude, a few were unhappy as well and accused Virat of not caring enough for the sentiment.

5. The race between MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya

MS Dhoni might be in mid-thirties now, but he is still as quick as any youngster in the Indian team and he proved it recently ahead of an ODI game against Sri Lanka. The Indian team was warming up before the toss and the players were going through some of their routine drills when all of a sudden Dhoni and the all-rounder Hardik Pandya decided to have a 100-metre dash.

What was surprising was that despite being 12 years younger than Dhoni, Pandya was still not able to match the speed of his former captain who eventually ended up acing the sprint. The way Dhoni ran through was astonishing for someone who is 36 years of age.

Some of the Indian fans were left open-mouthed, while the critics who always talk about Dhoni’s age while bashing him had once again nowhere to hide as they found out that the wicketkeeper-batsman was faster than a 23-year old.