Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar objected to the use of placards from dressing room for tactical guidance of players on the field, additionally asking whether they'll be a code in place for the use of DRS too?
Gavaskar's comments have come after England captain Eoin Morgan defended receiving signals from team analyst Nathan Leamon during the recent third T20I versus South Africa.
While for Morgan this is within the laws as they were only carrying forward their own data, Gavaskar believes there is no place for such gesturing 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," said Gavaskar while speaking on Star Sports' show 'Cricket Connected'.
"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?"
"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."
Present alongside Gavaskar on the show, another Indian batting great VVS Laxman echoed the sentiments shared and said there is no requirement of captain in case teams started running this way.
"Often in T20 cricket if the captain needs to make a decision, he discusses it with the coach or the support staff or a senior player, and post that discussion a captain usually comes to a decision."
"But if this thing (use of placard) forms a part of the rule, then I believe it is not the right thing, as you want the captain to fulfill his role otherwise you don't require a captain, and the team can be run from outside similar to football where the manager runs the team," Laxman said.
Matthew Hayden, the former Australia opening batter, opined, "The point about all of this is, how effective is it? I mean from what I understand is, some of these codes were getting mixed up, because there was a run-scoring spree during that potential time and that's the whole point of communications."
"You come together, you make sure you understand the plan and then you execute the plan, you can't just leave it as understanding it."
(Inputs from ANI)
