Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar is unimpressed after the England cricket team analyst displayed posters to convey a message to his batsmen during the second T20I against South Africa last week. Nathan Leamon, an analyst from England, displayed a pair of signs with a combination of letters and numbers to instruct Eoin Morgan on field locations.
Although England clarified that they had asked the match officials for permission, Gavaskar rejected the move, saying there are better ways to communicate with the players.
“Ideally, as captain, I would not want this to happen. If I was the captain I’d say, see if you want to send a message about any field placement or a bowling change, then send the twelfth man with a bottle of water or whatever … a way to get the message across. either the twelfth man or the coach can pass the message on to the outfielder, “Gavaskar said on Star Sports’ Cricket Connected Show.
This is not the first time something like this has happened. During the Pakistan Super League earlier this year, Leamon, who was involved with the Multan Sultans, had used a similar tactic to convey a message. Gavaskar questioned the legitimacy of something like this, believing that the ICC needs to be aware of such communication strategies.
“I would like to know if the match referee had confirmed it with the ICC. Did you ask ICC? Has the ICC cricket committee sanctioned this? We don’t know yet. This is happening for the first time, ”explained Gavaskar.
“We were told that this type of strategy was also used during the Pakistani Super League and maybe it was the same person who adapted this technique who was an analyst there. But I don’t think this should be happening in cricket. The second thing that is concerning is that during the situation of a DRS, would there be a code there as well to help with the decision to take the DRS? “
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