‘It’s crazy’: Why Aussie cricket great Brett Lee keeps going viral

Aussie cricket great Brett Lee has had a busy week, sending his colleague to hospital and going seriously viral on social media.

If anyone wants to know the secret to going viral on social media these days, they should ask Australian cricket great Brett Lee.

The former fast bowler went viral twice last week after two clips caught the attention of cricket fans around the world during the first Test between Australia and India in Perth.

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Lee, Mark Howard and David Warner were on air during a break in play when the sound of an aircraft flyover “scared the daylights” out of the Fox Cricket commentators.

A video capturing their reactions (shared on their accounts and Fox Cricket) has now amassed the following 560,000 likes, 1500 comments, 23.5k shares and been viewed 13.7 million times.

Lee has 1.8 million followers on Instagram and at Fox Cricket he is second only to David Warner who has a whopping 10.8 million followers on the platform.

“When those fighter jets flew over, I actually thought the roof of the stadium had fallen off. It was that loud,” Lee told news.com.au.

Another post featuring Lee went viral during the series opener in Perth.

The clip showed Lee chatting to Indian superstar Jasprit Bumrah, who did an excellent impression of Lee’s bowling action, his galloping approach to the crease and his iconic chainsaw wicket celebration.

The candid moment between the two bowlers went ballistic on Foxtel’s Instagram account — the video has racked up 10.8 million views and 854,000 interactions, making it @Foxtel’s most engaging Instagram post of all time and most-viewed sports content of all time.

“It was crazy mate,” Lee said of his social media fame. “Nuts, to say the least.

“That totally blew up, especially through India.

“What happened was I get to the middle, I see the great man Jasprit Bumrah and start just having a chat.

“He started talking about the white sweatband (that Lee wore on his arm during his career).

“It’s funny how many people say they wear the white sweatband. I did it because (South Africa’s) Allan Donald wore a white sweatband when I was growing up.

“We start talking about bowling actions and he said ‘I used to mimic your bowling action’ and he was doing that. I said I wouldn’t mind seeing your action with the straight arm. So we had a bit of fan joking around as fast bowlers do. Then he did the chainsaw action.

“This was organic, it wasn’t orchestrated. I didn’t even know there was a camera on me until they flashed it up when I was on commentary. They said, ‘Let’s have a look at Binga and Bumrah’.

“It’s crazy the amount of hits that got, that went globally.”

India’s Jasprit Bumrah talks with Australia’s former cricketer Brett Lee during the first Test in Perth. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)

Asked if he’d like to see Bumrah recreate his chainsaw celebration in a match, Lee said: “Look, it would be quite funny if he did. Bumrah’s got his own unique style, an action that’s perfect for the top order right handed batsmen.

“I’ve been a massive fan of Bumrah for years. I love the way he bowls. I admire him off the field as a gentleman.

“That’s the greatest thing. The chance to play against India and the Sachins of the world, VVS Laxman and (Rahul) Dravid, MS Dhoni — they’re just lovely guys.

“Of course you play as hard as you can on the field, but off it, I’m very lucky to have friends for life.

“If I go over to India I can give a few guys a call and catch up with Sachin and go over to his house for afternoon tea and stuff like that.

“To me, that old cliche goes ‘cricket doesn’t last forever but friendships do’. That’s what I’m most proud about.”

Binga loves Jasprit Bumrah. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)

Brett Lee went viral twice in the space of a week. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Lee, who travels to India frequently for commentary and other work, estimates he has been to India around 150 times and spoke glowingly of his “love affair” for India and their cricket legends.

“I’ve spent 30 years there now,” Lee said.

“Went there first in 1994 and just fell in love with the place. I love the culture, it’s grown into this massive love affair with me and India that gets better and better every single year.

“Every time I go back, I try and learn a bit more Hindi, more about the culture. I get to study and watch the players a lot working on the Indian Premier League.

“Watching guys like (Indian opener) Yashavi Jaiwal — he’s 22 years of age but to see him come through the ranks the last three years and watch him grow into the player he is now is pretty incredible.

Lee has had a busy week. A thunderbolt send down in a promo shoot sent Howard to hospital after a flying bail landed in his colleague’s forehead and he had to get stitched up.

He’ll be joining Isa Guha, Harsha Bhogle, Ravi Shastri, Adam Gilchrist and others as part of Fox Cricket’s coverage of the second Test against India at the Adelaide Oval.

Every ball of the Test is available on Kayo Sports in 4K with no ad-breaks during play.