Impermissible Oversight

“Two most dangerous things in world cricket. Number one - MS Dhoni?& Number two - MS Dhoni without helmet”

I was also one of the ardent fans who went Ga Ga over this meme until I realized the hidden peril behind it. Cricket has evolved over the years. It has become fast, dynamic, more entertaining ever since the T20 format came into picture. Bats gone big, boundaries made small, Pitches became flat, players earn more and more so on. Advent of technology helped this beautiful game reach greater highs. Having said all these, I still feel cricket is failing to look into the most fundamental aspect – safety.?It is paramount to protect players or the personnel taking part in the game from any serious injuries.

Cricket is known for giving life to the individuals but it had taken one. In 2014, the tragic passing of Phil Hughes batting 63* shown the ugly face of cricket. There could be many incidents like this happened in the past but in 21st century, with all these technological, financial, global advancement, it was an impermissible oversight. It took one live on a cricket field for the whole cricket community to focus towards safety & protection. Extra strapping added to the helmets, concussion rules came into picture but still the lessons are not learned properly.

Personally I feel there should be no place for a batter/keeper entering a cricket field for batting/Keeping without a helmet. Be it a spinner, a part-timer or a 3 year old, whoever is bowling, helmet should be always worn. It is not only about facing the bowlers. If a batsman can play a switch hit / reverse scoop, then the time isn’t far for a spinner to bowl a bouncer. Actually I remember one bouncer from a leg spinner Qasi Ahamed to Russell which almost took him down in a T10 league. It is not always helmets worn for bouncers. There are numerous factor that can put the batter in deadly situation. I would like to bring out some real cricketing situation to support my claim. There can be n number of scenarios but I have mentioned few that I had witnessed.

Situation 1: Imagine a batter without a helmet facing a slow left arm spinner. Batter knocks the ball and calls the non-striker for a two. Fielding at deep sprints, collects the ball cleanly, aims & attempt a direct-hit. Batter puts in a dive to save his wicket and all in one motion ball hits the head of a batter instead of sticks.

?

We have seen the above situation except the ball hitting the batter’s head during the middle overs in a T20/ODI. Batter can argue it is extremely humid & it’s sweating like river but shouldn’t the organizers focus on safety over comfort. We should be thankful that such situation didn’t happen. Since it has not happened, we should consider it’s never going to happen. Always remember cricket is a great leveler.

Situation 2: Imagine a batter helmet facing a slow left arm spinner. Batter knocks the ball and calls the non-striker for a two. Fielding at deep sprints, collects the ball cleanly, aims & throws to keeper. The wicket keeper got blind sighted by batsman and unexpectedly the ball bounced awkwardly and hits the keeper head.

One incident which comes close to this is when Ishan Kishan, the wicket keeper of Mumbai Indians got hit on head (Near his eyes) while collecting ball from thrown from deep. He was keeping without helmet since he was standing way back as the bowler is a pacer. Little he knew that there is going to be awkward bounce while gathering a thrown and the ball is going to crash into his head. Thankfully it is not a serious injury and unacceptably we forgot the signs of danger.

Scenario 3: Batter is facing a bowler and the non-striker is without helmet. Bowler bowls a full delivery and the batter smashes straight towards non-striker. With no time to react, batter gets hit on his head. Imagine how many close shaves we have seen. Commentators and viewers even make fun of the evasive actions from umpires while avoiding getting hit. Remember Cameron Green from Australia getting hit by Bumrah’s drive during a practice game resulting in concussion and missing a match. Luckily for him, it is not so serious.

Some may argue if that is the case everyone should wear helmet in cricket as there is enough possibilities of getting hit. But in most of the cases fielders, bowlers, keepers are directly facing the trajectory of the incoming ball. Unless there is a blind sight & awkward bounce, except bowlers, keepers and other fielders will have time to react. But the helmet-less batter while running he/she can’t see the line nor the trajectory of the ball if it not within his/her line of sight and are more prone to getting hit at back of his/her head-neck region same as Phil Hughes. ?In the recent past, cricket has shown enough signs to quickly eradicate the impermissible oversight regarding the usage of helmet. Its high time to act upon. Cricket doesn’t want yet another tragedy. ICC / concerning boards / respective individuals playing the game should look into it seriously.

Of all, cricket promotes life but definitely not take one’s life.