‘World Cup Anthem Or Pokemon Show?’ Fans Divided On ICC Video As Kohli’s Turned Into Cartoon

The International Cricket Council (ICC) launched the T20 World Cup 2021 anthem on Thursday which is titled ‘Live The Game’ and it features some of the top players from all over the world, including Indian captain Virat Kohli, former Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan, Australia’s Glenn Maxwell and West Indies great Kieron Pollard.

However, there was one problem with the video which seems to be causing a lot of mixed reactions in the global cricket community. The majority of the video is animated and the players mentioned above have been turned into cartoon characters. This annoyed a lot of the fans who even compared the video of some of the other famous cartoon shows such as Pokemon and games such as Stick Cricket.

Initially it looked like a Pokémon theme for me #ICCT20WorldCup2021 https://t.co/lGOOYh5a28

— Kaustubh Mokal (@KaustubhMokal3) September 23, 2021

Got me memories of stick cricket https://t.co/iuIQqODosi

— Madhan|kl stan acc (@networkissue_) September 23, 2021

what a crap. https://t.co/HySUgMDUSP

— Avinash Singh Rathore (@being__shiva__) September 23, 2021

They want me to take this sport seriously https://t.co/lGRiSHAWxW

— Shehryar (@shehrryaar) September 23, 2021 

Another problem that people found was that the anthem in itself wasn’t as good as some of the previous anthems have been for various ICC tournaments in the past. Some felt that the T20 World Cup 2014 continues to be the most catchy song in cricketing history, while others feel it is the World Cup 2011 anthem ‘De Ghuma Ke’ composed by the legendary Indian musical trio of Shankar-Ehsan-Loy which remains undefeated. 

Thankfully, there were a lot of the fans who genuinely liked the whole concept and found the anthem very entertaining as well.  

…This is the kind we love to.. https://t.co/ISMVUMRJ01

— Monu (@crixmonu) September 23, 2021

My most fav tournament is less than a month away. Love the promo of @T20WorldCup Hope India wins this time and @imVkohli lifts the trophy. #T20WorldCup https://t.co/Iu1YV8HmTQ

— Nikhil Ram (@Nikhil_Rams) September 23, 2021

#t20worldcup2021 @ICC
That’s amazing.. https://t.co/CRBfrx3tAM

— Rahul Kumar (@RahulDe69903093) September 23, 2021

Love this can’t wait for the big show https://t.co/MM8mZ6UY9D

— Shilpa Udayan (@shilpa_udayan) September 23, 2021 

Given the extremely difficult conditions, thanks to the global pandemic and the extremely tight schedules that are being followed by some of the top cricket teams in the world at the moment, it is understandable that ICC’s media team did not get the opportunity to specifically shoot video footage with the respective cricket stars. Considering the practicality of these issues, it can be said that they did a great job creating the anthem. 

The T20 World Cup is scheduled to begin on October 17, 2021, which is just two days after the final match of the 2021 season of the Indian Premier League. Most of the world-class players will already be in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where the World Cup will be hosted by India.