The ‘Pushpa’ fever has hit women’s cricket too now. After Ravindra Jadeja and Obed McCoy did the now-famous mode of celebration in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, the FairBreak Invitational Tournament in Dubai has now seen an instance of a player doing the ‘Pushpa’ celebration. In a match between Tornadoes Women and Sapphires Women on May 5, Nepal’s Sita Rana Magar can be seen moving her hand under the chin, mimicking Allu arjun’s style in the superhit movie ‘Pushpa’, after picking a wicket for the former.

“It’s gone so far on social media. Nepal’s Sita Rana Magar with the most popular celebration currently,” wrote the ICC with a video of the post.

Watch: Full video of Sita Rana Magar’s Pushpa celebration

The FairBreak Invitational Tournament is an innovative women’s cricket tournament grouping established stars with emerging-nation players starts this week as the sport looks to expand globally and outgrow its reliance on the men’s game. The FairBreak Invitational, featuring England captain Heather Knight, West Indies skipper Stafanie Taylor and Pakistan’s Sana Mir, opened last Wednesday accompanied by calls for better funding for the sport. Women’s cricket has emerged as a marketing hit in recent years with international finals played at sold-out stadiums, including a record 86,000-plus at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the T20 World Cup decider in March 2020.

Progress was halted by the pandemic but the sport bounced back with a successful World Cup in New Zealand, Australia beating Knight’s England at a sold-out Hagley Oval last month.

Knight, whose Barmy Army-sponsored FairBreak team includes players from Vanuatu and Rwanda, said it was time that women’s cricket ended its financial reliance on the men’s game.

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“I think there are discrepancies and certain things in the women’s game,” she told journalists at Dubai International Cricket Stadium earlier.

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