BENGALURU — Wanindu Hasaranga, the Sri Lankan spin wizard, turned heads at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 24, 2025, not just for snaring a crucial wicket but for celebrating it with a swagger straight out of a blockbuster. The Rajasthan Royals’ star dismissed Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Phil Salt in a high-octane IPL clash, then marked the moment with a gesture mimicking the iconic shoulder shrug from the Telugu film Pushpa: The Rise. The crowd roared, and Bengaluru’s cricket fever hit a new high.
Salt, the explosive RCB opener, had been carving up the Royals’ attack, racing to 26 off 23 balls. His knock included four boundaries, each one a jab to Rajasthan’s hopes of reining in the hosts. But Hasaranga, brought into the attack in the seventh over, had other plans. With a cleverly disguised googly, he foxed Salt, who misread the spin and lobbed a catch to Shimron Hetmyer at cover. RCB were 61 for 1 in 6.4 overs, and the breakthrough shifted the game’s pulse.
As Salt trudged off, Hasaranga didn’t hold back. He spun around, faced the stands, and unleashed the Pushpa move—a tilted head, a sly grin, and that now-famous hand gesture. The stadium erupted. Fans, already buzzing from the electric atmosphere, lapped it up, their cheers drowning out the thumping music. For a moment, it wasn’t just cricket—it was theater, raw and unscripted.
The match itself was a pressure cooker. RCB, batting first, leaned on their openers to set a daunting total against a Royals side packed with bowling nous. Hasaranga’s strike broke a 50-plus opening stand, giving Rajasthan a foothold. By the time the dust settled on the powerplay, the game was poised on a knife’s edge, with RCB’s middle order tasked with building on the start.
Hasaranga’s celebration wasn’t his only contribution. The leggie bowled with guile, finishing his spell with figures that kept RCB’s batters on a leash. His return to Bengaluru, where he’d once donned RCB colors, added a layer of intrigue. Traded to Rajasthan ahead of the 2025 season, he was back on familiar turf, this time as the enemy. The wicket, the gesture, the stakes—it all felt personal.
The Pushpa nod wasn’t random. The film’s gritty antihero, played by Allu Arjun, has become a cultural juggernaut, its dialogues and mannerisms seeping into India’s pop-culture bloodstream. Athletes across sports have mimicked the character’s moves, but Hasaranga’s version landed like a perfectly timed cover drive. It was bold, cheeky, and quintessentially him.
By the end of the night, the wicket and the celebration were the talk of Bengaluru. Fans spilled out of the stadium, some mimicking the Pushpa shrug themselves, while others debated whether Hasaranga’s spell would tilt the game Rajasthan’s way. The IPL, never short on drama, had another moment to etch into its 2025 scrapbook.
RCB finished the 6.4 overs at 61 for 1. Salt’s dismissal came on the fourth ball of Hasaranga’s first over. Rajasthan Royals fielded a side including Sanju Samson as captain, with Hetmyer taking the catch. The match was part of the IPL 2025 league stage, played at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.