I watched a part of the IPL finals. One thing caught my attention. There was an opening batsman walking to crease and a member of fielding side side following him and saying something. There was no eye contact between the two and it seemed to me one way communication. I try to imagine what might have transpired between the two. The communication might have been,
Fielder: “Excuse me, can I have a word with you?”.
Batter: “Not now, sir. I am in a hurry. I have to open the innings.”
Fielder: “But I must tell you. This is to help you in the work.”
And the fielder would have poured in all his words of wisdom.
The batter did not try to dodge and shake off the fielder. Like they do in soccer and hockey. I am sure next time Royal Challengers get down to practice, they will have a session on soccer and teach how to shake off a fielder who has marked a batter on the way to crease. The engineers in the team would look for some technical solution. Some kind of filter that takes out all words spoken by fielders would be of immense value to batsmen. This filter could be worn by the batsman in addition to pads and gloves and would safeguard him from psychological injuries in addition to physical ones. Finally, the psychologists would also chip in with their contribution. Not sure what they would say, but on the nets they will have a session where batsmen would practice walking with another cricketer speaking from behind so that they become impervious to it.
Tags: cricket, Deccan Charges, final, humour, IPL, Royal Challengers, T20