Players and owners flaunt beliefs and idiosyncrasies

DLF Indian Premier League
Players and owners flaunt beliefs and idiosyncrasies

 NEW DELHI:The game may have evolved to such an extent that Tests cricket co-exists with Twenty20, umpires blend harmoniously with modern technology like HawkEye and Snickometer and Strategic Breaks, which have added a new dimension to the DLF Indian Premier League, find place alongside superstitions.


How else can you explain the fact that Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Yusuf Pathan's conscious bid to always wear his right pad first when getting ready to bat. "Whenever we start something good, we use our right hand or the right foot. I always follow that,"he explains.
Let us take a quick look at what some of the players are doing at DLF IPL:


Rajasthan Royals fast-medium bowler Siddhath Trivedi carried a handkerchief in each of his trouser pockets


Kolkata Knight Riders fast bowler Ishant Sharma wears religious threads given by his mother.


Mumbai Indians skipper Sachin Tendulkar straps his left pad first before coming to play


Rahul Dravid makes it sure that he puts his right foot forward-literally-when he comes to bat


Deccan Chargers' pacer Chaminda Vaas, who still has to play this season, starts his run-up by crossing his heart


Mumbai Indians opener Sanath Jayasuriya touches all his equipment before taking guard


Kings XI Punjab batsman Mahela Jayawardene keeps kissing the bat while batting


Deccan Chargers opener Herschelle Gibbs keeps mum when coming in to bat.


The idea does not stop with the players. Team owners like Preity Zinta (Kings XI Punjab) offers 'prasad' to her team members before they enter the ground. Rajasthan Royals co-owner Shilpa Shetty wore wristwatches in either hand during her team's victory over Delhi Daredevils."I wore two watches as they are my good luck charms," she said.






Call them superstitions or call them idiosyncrasies, none of these folks sees any point in denying them or in trying to rationalise them.






"It is magical thinking which more often found in children," says Sitaram Bhartiya Research Centre's Dr. Amit Sen, "Some of these beliefs are ritualised to custom and culture the way we are. Believing in quirks, talismans or superstition gives them a sense of comfort, that much extra bit of luck or zest they need.






"Where there is unpredictability and fortunes can turn dramatically, magical thinking takes place, you imagine the outcomes yourself. The essence of it is irrational, something which we can't relate with the players," he says.


Senior psychiatrist Dr. Jitendra Nagpal reiterates that."Commanding rituals that acknowledge there are limits to what a person can control," he says. "It is a coping-mechanism. They build confidence and are ways to feel in control of factors that are really uncontrollable," he says.