Following the relaxation of coronavirus-related restrictions, sporting events began to take place around the world.
But the way games are played has now changed. To ensure the safety of the players and other members involved, new rules have been introduced.
With the arrival of new rules, unusual scenes are sometimes witnessed on the field. While watching cricket, fans are amazed when they see players, mainly team captains, with two or sometimes three caps.
But what is the reason why players use more than one cup at a time during the match? It is due to one of the COVID-19 related rules introduced by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
“On-field protocols – For example, no unnecessary body contact and no handing over items (hat, towels, sunglasses, etc.) to referees or teammates. Each player should be responsible for their own items,” it reads in a statement from the ICC.
Under this rule, players cannot hand over their items like hat, sunglasses and towels to the referees. Also, they cannot ask their partners to keep these items while bowling. Cricketers do their best to follow all COVID-19-related guidelines, but give their caps to their teammates before bowling.
Last month, England captain Eoin Morgan and his Australian counterpart Aaron Finch were seen wearing two or three caps when their teams met in the One Day International (ODI) series.
Similar scenes are witnessed during the current Indian Premier League. Captains or players from various IPL franchises are seen wearing more than one cap during the game. In fact, during Wednesday’s competition between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore, KKR patron Eoin Morgan was seen wearing two caps during the RCB chase.
IPL 2020 is played without the presence of fans in the stadiums. Aside from this, to protect players and other staff from infection, they are asked to stay inside a biosecurity bubble.
They should also celebrate carefully without making a lot of body contact. If a wicket falls or either team wins the game, the players are seen celebrating by touching their knuckles or fists.
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