T20 cricket has been changing the course of the sport of cricket day by day. More runs are being scored, more variations of shots and deliveries are seen, also not to forget the next level fielding especially those catches along the boundary line.
However, with any growing and evolving concept, there are also loopholes and side-effects. One of the biggest blind-spots of this fast-paced sport is negligence to safety! Safety has definitely taken a backseat due to increased focus on other aspects of the game and increased technology.
However, this wasn’t going to be unnoticed by an absolute legend of the sport who has around 22 years of solid cricket experience. The ‘Master Blaster’ took to social media to address this critical issue.
Tendulkar addresses the issue!
Tendulkar took to Twitter to urge the International Cricket Council (ICC) to make wearing helmets mandatory for batsmen at all professional levels against any type of bowler – a fast bowler or a spinner.
He highlighted a recent incident where Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Vijay Shankar was hit on the helmet while trying to take a single. The impact had Shankar grounded pretty severely.
“The game has become faster but is it getting safer? Recently we witnessed an incident which could’ve been nasty. Be it a spinner or pacer, wearing a HELMET should be MANDATORY for batsmen at professional levels. Request @icc to take this up on priority”.
Shankar’s incident also reminded Tendulkar of a similar incident when Ravi Shastri was hit after top-edging a full toss bowled by Sunil Gavaskar in an exhibition game.
“@RaviShastriOfc, this also reminded me of the time when you got hit after top-edging a full toss bowled by Mr. Gavaskar during an exhibition game. That could’ve been a grave injury too but thankfully wasn’t!” Sachin wrote on Twitter.
A similar incident happened in yesterday’s IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad where Dhawal Kulkarni was hit on the helmet with a direct throw.
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