It was the 9th over of KKR’s innings. Finn Allen, looking dangerous on 22 off 14, tried to punch a length delivery from Deepak Chahar through the off-side. The ball cut back sharply, beat the inside edge, and crashed into the top of off stump. As the bails lit up, Chahar turned towards the dugout, put his hand into his left pocket, and pretended to pull out a piece of paper. He held it up to the crowd – except there was nothing there. The message was clear: the paper celebration trend is dead.

The camera caught Rohit Sharma laughing uncontrollably in the dugout. Even the umpire, Nitin Menon, was seen smiling. Within minutes, the clip was everywhere – X, Instagram, WhatsApp forwards. By midnight, it had crossed 28 million views across platforms. “I just felt like having some fun,” Chahar said in the post-match presentation. “Everyone is pulling out notes, so I thought why not pull out an invisible one?”

The reaction from fellow cricketers was swift. Dale Steyn, never one to hold back, wrote on X: “Time to put the papers away. It ain’t trending no more. Actually, to be honest, never really was.” The post garnered over 80,000 likes. Sunil Gavaskar, on air, quipped: “Where’s the chit now? It’s in the pocket right? How long do they carry the chit for?” Even Ambati Rayudu joined the chorus, tweeting: “This chit business should be banned. It’s becoming a mockery of genuine emotions.”

The trend first gained attention last season when Abhishek Sharma displayed a special message for Sunrisers Hyderabad supporters after scoring a century. But it exploded in IPL 2026 when Urvil Patel, after smashing a 13-ball fifty against Delhi Capitals, pulled out a handwritten note from his pocket and kissed it. The camera zoomed in: “Papa, this is for you. Thank you for believing in me.” It was emotional, genuine, and instantly viral.

Then came the bandwagon. Raghu Sharma of Gujarat Titans did it after a match-winning spell. Akash Singh of Lucknow Super Giants took it to another level – after each of his three wickets against CSK, he pulled out a note reading “#Akki on fire – Akash knows how to take wickets in a T20 game”. Fans started calling it cringeworthy. Memes flooded the timeline. By the time Deepak Chahar stepped up, the trend had become a punching bag.

After the match, which MI won by 7 wickets, Deepak Chahar was asked about his celebration. “I didn’t plan it, to be honest. I saw the trend, and I thought it’s getting a bit too much. So when I took the wicket, I just pretended to pull out a paper – but I kept my pocket empty. It was a split-second decision. The boys in the dugout loved it.”

Rohit Sharma, his captain, added: “That’s Deepak for you – always lightening the mood. We needed that energy. The paper celebration thing was becoming a distraction. He killed it with humour.” Chahar finished with figures of 2/29 in his 4 overs, a crucial contribution in MI’s must-win game.