The COVID-19 pandemic brought a lot of changes in the field of cricket. From the saliva ban to staying in the bio-bubble, players need to abide by the rules to the smooth flowing of the game. However, there are some rules which were introduced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) which are being questioned.
Recently Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi, who is still playing T20 franchise cricket, raised a question to the ICC regarding one such rule.
He said it seems absurd that no umpires are allowed to hold the caps of the bowlers during the overs. While this was a common practice, ICC restricted it after COVID, citing concerns over transmission of the virus.
However, Afridi questioned saying that players do shake their hands with the umpires and also stay in the same bio-secure environments as the players, so why can't they hold their caps?
"Dear @ICC wondering why the umpires are not allowed to hold the bowler’s cap even though they are in the same bubble as the players/management and even shake hands at the end of the game?" Afridi posted on his Twitter account.
Afridi is currently playing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021 for the Multan Sultans. As the T20 tournament is under ICC’s rules and regulations, he might have faced the same issue in any of the matches.
As for his team, the Multan Sultans’ have had a poor start to the PSL season as they lost both their first two matches. Afridi bowled a superb spell in the first match, picking up two wickets for just 24 runs in his four overs.
