'Did they ask ICC?': Sunil Gavaskar Slams England For Use Of Coded Information Through Clipboards

Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar has expressed objection over the use of placards during a match. His remarks have come after England’s analyst Nathan Leamon was seen sending a coded information to skipper Eoin Morgan during the third T20I against South Africa earlier this month.

The analyst hung a series of letters and numbers written on a clipboard from the balcony of the England dressing room. The information was a combination of a letter and number. Some of the codes were ‘C3’, ‘4E’. It was being done in order to help Eoin Morgan’s decisions in terms of bowling combinations as per the game situation.

As per reports, the signals given by Leamon suggested as to who should be bowling the next over and a possible field setting. The incident has drawn mixed reactions from the cricket world. Morgan himself defended the team’s strategy, saying that there was nothing against the spirit of the game.

However, Sunil Gavaskar has expressed his reservations against the same. The former cricketer-turned-commentator asked whether England had the prior permission of ICC for it. He also asked “would there be a code there as well to help with the decision of taking the DRS?”. Sunil Gavaskar made it clear that he is against the practice and said this should not be happening in cricket.

“I would like to know if the match referee had confirmed this with the ICC? Did they ask ICC? Has the cricket committee of the ICC sanctioned this, we don’t know this yet. This is happening for the first time. We were told that this type of strategy was also used during Pakistan Super League and maybe this was the same person who adapted this technique who was an analyst there.

“But I don’t believe this should be happening in cricket. The second thing that is worrisome is during the situation of a DRS, would there be a code there as well to help with the decision of taking the DRS?” Sunil Gavaskar asked while speaking on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.

The former cricketer said that he would not like such a practice even if he were the captain and have instead preferred receiving information from the 12th man. Usually, teams receive information from the dressing room through the 12th man during a drinks break or any other forced break.

“Ideally, as a captain, I would not like this thing to happen. If I was the captain, I would say, look if you want to send a message about any field placing or a bowling change, then send the 12th man across with a bottle of water or anything….a way you can pass the message or the 12th man or the coach can pass the message to the boundary fielder,” said Sunil Gavaskar

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