BBL: Melbourne Stars bowler brings out mask and 'sanitizer' after taking wicket; WATCH

Melbourne Stars player Haris Rauf became one of the talking points of Tuesday after he found an epic way to celebrate his first wicket during the Melbourne Stars vs Perth Scorchers, Big Bash League 2021-22 match at the GMHBA stadium. In the first innings of the match, Haris Rauf dismissed Kurtis Patterson in the second ball of the second over after taking a gentle nick off the bat on a swinging delivery, while the wicketkeeper took the catch. Following the dismissal, Rauf made the gesture of applying sanitiser on his hands before taking out a mask from his pocket and wearing it.

Cricket fans were enthralled on spotting the viral celebration by Rauf as they expressed their views on Twitter. Among the many reactions from fans praising Rauf for the celebration, few fans wondered if Rauf’s celebration was a clever dig towards the Australian government, who were involved in a legal battle with World No. 1 ranked tennis player, Novak Djokovic. Djokovic won his court battle against the Minister for Home Affairs on Monday and is preparing to play in the upcoming year opening major, Australian Open 2022.

Watch Haris Rauf's celebration-

How did the fans react?

Perth Scorchers win the match by 47 runs after setting a target of 197 runs

On the match front, following Patterson’s dismissal, Scorchers went on to score a total of 196 runs at the loss of three wickets. Rauf finished the innings with the figures of 2/38 after bowling four overs, while Adam Zampa was the only other bowler who contributed with wickets. Zampa dismissed Nick Hobson on the individual score of 46 runs. Lauri Evans scored 69 runs before becoming Rauf’s second dismissal, while Scorchers skipper Ashton Turner remained unbeaten after scoring 47 quickfire runs off 26 deliveries.

Chasing the handsome target, Melbourne Stars kept losing wickets at regular intervals from one end while opener Beau Webster scored the maximum of 63 runs off 47 balls, while no other batters breached the 20-run individual mark. The Stars were able to score only 149 runs after losing nine wickets in 20 overs and lost the match by 47 runs. Matthew Kelly returned with the best figures of 4/25 for the Scorchers while, Jason Behrendorff, Peter Hatzoglou, Andrew Tye, and Ashton Agar dismissed one batter each.

(Twitter Image: @BBL/FOX)