Imran Tahir’s Son the Reason Behind His Iconic Viktor Gyokeres Celebration

Former South African spinner Imran Tahir continues to dominate T20 cricket at 46.

Imran Tahir’s Son the Reason Behind His Iconic Viktor Gyokeres Celebration

Imran Tahir (Image via Cricket365/ESPN India)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

South Africa’s former leg spinner Imran Tahir has been an entertainer for cricket lovers right through his career. Many have loved Tahir doing the long celebratory run after taking wickets and his teammates chasing him around the ground.

That celebratory run got further hyped when he did it in the 2019 IPL playing for the Chennai Super Kings and then for South Africa in the 2019 World Cup. Imran Tahir from time to time has also added nuances to his celebration, which has also been loved a lot by his fans. The “Baby in the Cradle” celebration of his was one such famous nuance.

In recent times, Tahir has kept the crowd glued by emulating football star Viktor Gyokeres‘ celebration. Arsenal’s Gyokeres has made it a fancy habit of celebrating keeping both his hands locked on his face. Tahir did that in a few matches that went by, making fans interested in knowing the reason behind Tahir emulating the footballer. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Tahir opened up about his viral celebration.

The celebrations are purely for my son. He just loves football. I actually don’t know the guy (Gyokeres) who does this celebration, but I know he’s a footballer. But look, it’s nice, I want to put a smile on my son’s face and hopefully a smile on the faces of other people as well, if they like it.

Imran Tahir said

Tahir disclosed that his son is a massive football fan and, for his son, he comes up with such different celebrations. He also mentioned that he also wants his fans to enjoy all his celebrations. Tahir, who retired from international cricket in 2019, continues to play matches in T20 leagues throughout the world. He was recently seen playing the Legends League for the South Africa Champions, who won the title.

July 2025- A look at Imran Tahir’s recently concluded dream month

Imran Tahir retired from international cricket six years ago, ending an illustrious career for South Africa. Tahir was part of the extremely successful South African team that won bilateral series all over the world. However, despite having such a strong team, that batch was unable to lift an ICC title, just like many good South African teams before. He did win multiple leagues here and there for various franchises, but they would come by occasionally.

Imran Tahir celebrates a wicket at World Championship of Legends
Imran Tahir (via Fancode)

However, more than half a decade into international retirement life, Tahir finally found a perfect month of him being part of a dominating team in two back-to-back events.

The month started with Tahir competing for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Global Super League. Tahir was captain of the side and came up with a thundering performance all tournament. Tahir took a remarkable 14 wickets in just 5 games and led his side to a title win by beating the Rangpur Riders in the final.

June was only going to get better for the leg spinner who wore national colors for the first time in a while. Competing for South Africa champs in the World Championship of Legends, Tahir, like many other players on that side, was aching for a title win under the South African banner. Tahir ended up becoming the fifth best bowler of the tournament with 8 wickets in 5 games at an average of just 19.

Tahir got his dream completed with South Africa lifting the title thanks to multiple match winning performances from their captain AB de Villiers, who himself was aching for a trophy for a long time. In one month, Tahir won two titles and, more importantly, the second one wearing national colors.

It has been a magical year for South Africa. Winning the WTC final two months ago and then further lifting the Legends League title. Tahir is 46 years of age but still is competing in tournaments around the world. Many are impressed with the fitness he is maintaining to play high level cricket. It will be interesting to see if he can continue this way for a few more years.

Also Read: