To the winners go the spoils, and the right to celebrate however they like, it seems.
Australian captain George Bailey said the West Indies had earned the right to dance, Gangnam Style, in the middle of Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka following a dramatic six-wicket, two-run win on Friday night.
The simmering tension between the two sides threatened to boil over in the last-gasp win, with West Indian players rushing the field to start an impromptu party – and cameras catching players exchanging steely glares amid the festivities.
But Bailey cautioned that there was a certain talent associated with celebrating with grace, without accusing their Calypso rivals of missing that mark.
“I guess they’re entitled to celebrate however they like,” he said.
“The art of winning is almost as hard as the art of losing isn’t it?” Coach Darren Lehmann, too, said the winning feeling can be an emotional one – and you can revel in however you see fit.
Even if he feels Australia wouldn’t have gone about it quite the same way.
“At the end of the day you’re going to get emotional with winning,” he said.
“We’ve certainly been through those stages but we’re really respectful of that as well.
“When you win you’ve got to win in the right way and act appropriately.
“If that’s the way they do that, that’s fine. That’s not our choice.
“That’s certainly not what we do. They certainly dance very well though, I’ll give them that.” It should be noted that Australia haven’t been without controversy for their on-field competitiveness and over-the-top celebrations recently.
They drew widespread criticism when earlier this month they gave South African batsman Faf du Plessis a quirky send-off by barking as he trudged back to the pavilion following his dismissal on a heated final day’s play of the deciding Test, won by Australia.
Du Plessis had likened Australia’s fielders to “a pack of dogs” in the field for their aggressive approach.
West Indian captain Darren Sammy, who clubbed the winning runs back over James Faulkner’s head on Friday to spark the raucous scenes, had the simplest explanation for the joyous pitch party.
“We are just happy,” he beamed.
“We play like that, with flair and passion.
“(The dancing) is not pre-planned, it just comes out with the celebrations. It just feels good to beat the Australians.”