© Getty Images

The IPL may be the biggest franchise league in the world but when it comes to partying, nothing can match the CPL for colour, music and... dance. The fans don't need a reason to bust a move in the stands, though there are plenty, and the players certainly don't need one on the field, where every wicket is celebrated with a jig - Dwayne Bravo has debuted a new move almost every dismissal.

Players were celebrating wickets with a boogie long before Bravo cornered the market on dance, though. Sample Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie's comic caper when England came visiting in 2002. Answers on a postcard if you know what their move in that video is called. The angry chicken? The triumphant turkey?

"Dizzy, we said dive, not jive" Phil Walter / © Getty Images

Ireland bowler David Langford-Smith channelled a different spirit animal in his celebrations - his signature move is called "the ferret". His team-mate Trent Johnson has gone the more traditional poultry route.

Langford-Smith believes if you can't sledge 'em, you should badger 'em © Getty Images

In 1938, Sid Barnes spent the long journey from Australia to England onboard the Orontes learning the quickstep cross chasse from ballroom champion Dorothy St John.

Waltz the score: Barnes has a ball © Fox Photos/Getty Images

Dance has been an inseparable part of the Indian team's victory celebrations, but have you ever seen Virat Kohli do the worm?

The worms are given a close look at India's celebrations after winning the 2013 Champions Trophy Christopher Lee / © ICC/Getty Images

In 2018, the "naagin (snake) dance" affair threatened to become a diplomatic incident between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and devolved into a dance-off every time the two teams came across each other.

Charmed, I'm sure: Bangladesh make hissstory in the Nidahas Trophy in 2018 © NurPhoto/Getty Images

How can you tell someone's been near Shikhar Dhawan?

Bhangra and mash: Sam Billings shows off some moves he learned from his Delhi Capitals days to an amused Mark Wood © BCCI

When West Indies party, it looks something like this.

West Indies celebrate their title win at the T20 World Cup in 2016 © ICC/Getty

When England parties? (Though Graeme Swann maintains the sprinkler is the best celebration ever seen in cricket.)

Play, don't spray: England bring the waterworks © Getty Images

A lifetime of minding their footwork has made cricketers naturals on the dance floor, for a while in the 2000s they were clogging up every dance competition on TV. Darren Gough won the third season of Strictly Come Dancing in the UK, and Mark Ramprakash went to the final the next year. Michael Vaughan and Phil Tufnell had a go as well but they never made it past the group stages. Indian dance reality shows have seen the likes of Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Vinod Kambli, Sreesanth, Ajay Jadeja, and perhaps more unexpectedly, Kris Srikkanth and Sanath Jayasuriya strut their stuff.

The San always shines on TV: Jayasuriya made it to the 2012 season of Indian dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, though he was eliminated in the second week © AFP

In 2011, South Africa marked the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first Indians to their shores with a cricket tour and a massive Bollywood concert, and the clash of the two on stage was glorious.

Slips don't lie: Makhaya Ntini, Wayne Parnell, JP Duminy and AB de Villiers nail their Bollywood audition Alexander Joe / © AFP/Getty Images

This England fan serves everyone a reminder to, every once in a while, dance like no one's watching.

Belly legal: proof that fans have skin in the game © Getty Images

Deepti Unni is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

 

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