Jay Shah's Rude Hand Gesture

About

Jay Shah's Rude Hand Gesture refers to memes and discussions about a hand gesture made by Indian cricket bureaucrat Jay Shah during the tournament finale of the Indian Premier League cricket match between the Gujarat Titans and the Chennai Super Kings, which ended in the latter's victory by five wickets. Memes about Jay Shah in the aftermath of the IPL finale took the form of using a screengrab of him making the gesture and recontextualizing it, as well as making jokes about Jay Shah's role in writing a good "script" for the IPL this year.

Origin

On May 29th, 2023, the tournament finale of the Indian Premier League took place, with the match between the Gujarat Titans and the Chennai Super Kings coming down to the latter team needing 11 runs from three balls. Before Chennai Super Kings batsman Ravindra Jadeja hit a four off the final ball to secure a win for his team, the camera panned to Jay Shah making a fist and gesturing near his chest, a movement that can be considered rude in the Indian context. Jay Shah is the Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the president of the Asian Cricket Council, and the son of Amit Shah, India's Minister of Home Affairs.

On May 29th, 2023, Twitter^[1] user @mrinalvirmani posted a clip of Jay Shah making the gesture, gathering over 3,000 likes in a day (seen below).

The earliest known meme made using the aforementioned clip was posted by Twitter^[2] user @sagarcasm on May 29th, with a caption that translates to "I took away everyone's sleep." The post gathered over 26,000 likes in a day (seen below).

Spread

Memes about Jay Shah's role in writing a "script" for the 2023 Indian Premier League abounded in the weeks leading up to the IPL finale, with Twitter^[3] user @HaramiParindey posting the Hello how are you I am under the water meme in relation to news about heavy rains on the day of the final match (seen below). The post gathered over 1,200 likes in two days.

On May 29th, Twitter^[4] user @sarphiribalika_ posted a meme using the image of Jay Shah and a caption that translates to "Show me a better script." The post gathered over 1,000 likes in a day (seen below, left). On May 28th, Twitter^[5] user @Prince8bx posted a meme about Jay Shah giving a cricket player a "script," gathering over 1,000 likes in two days (seen below, right).

Jay Shah was criticized for his gesture by various commentators as well, with Bollywood film critic @kamaalrkhan using Twitter^[6] to call out Jay Shah out for making a rude gesture during a family-friendly TV program, gathering over 2,700 likes in a day (seen below, left). On May 29th, Twitter^[7] user @NarundarM posted a tweet criticizing Shah as well, gathering over 3,000 likes in a day (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References