England’s celebrations following the T20 World Cup victory have split opinions after its Muslim players were forced to step out of the picture for a champagne shower.
After the entire team posed for a photo, with England captain Jos Buttler holding the World Cup trophy, spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid both made a quick exit before the champagne arrived.
While England and Buttler in particular were praised by some for ensuring that Ali and Rashid would not come into contact with alcohol, the gesture didn’t go down too kindly for others, who believed the use of non-alcoholic champagne would’ve been better so their teammates could continue enjoying the festivities.
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Both Ali and Rashid are devout Muslims with Pakistani heritage, and the Islamic religion prohibits the consumption and even indirect contact with alcohol.
Cricket journalist Yas Rana was one of the prominent voices calling for the customary champagne showers after a tournament win to be changed.
“Why would you want to exclude any of your players from any part of what should be one of the proudest moments of their careers?” Rana wrote in Wisden.
“Why would you want them removed from the images that will be used to celebrate this achievement for years to come?
“Why is showering the team in alcohol a necessary, immovable part of the celebrations?
“When you have just won a World Cup, why would you want, even for a second, to exclude anyone from the celebrations?”
This isn’t the first occasion where Ali and Rashid have been caught in an awkward spot during celebrations, after being forced to flee as the corks were opened following England’s ODI World Cup win in 2019.
There was also a similar occurrence during last summer’s Ashes celebrations, when Australia’s Usman Khawaja exited prior to the champagne showers, before being called back by Test captain Pat Cummins.
“If this video doesn’t show you that the boys have my back, I don’t know what will,” Khawaja tweeted at the time after video of Cummins’ gesture went viral.
“They stopped their normal champagne celebrations so I could rejoin.
“Inclusivity in the game and our values as a sport are so important.
“I feel like we are trending in the right direction.”
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