Super stars and superstitions

SYDNEY, FEB. 3. If only superstitions were as foolproof as the players believe them to be, there would be no failure or form slumps on a cricket field.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is known to wear a red cloth inside his pads before he goes out to bat. Only it didn't quite bring him luck in the current tri-series here.

Tendulkar also makes it a point to touch his elders' feet before he goes out to bat in any match, a practice he has followed without fail since he was a kid playing in Mumbai's parks.

Steve Waugh, similarly, likes a red handkerchief, a la Mohinder Amarnath, to hang loosely from his trouser pocket. The Australian captain privately believes it plays no less significant role in his team's success even though on skills and commitment alone his mates are peerless.

Waugh feels the red material really helps him in winning tosses. Since becoming the captain, Waugh has won 10 tosses out of 14 in Tests and performed a miracle when he called correctly seven times in a row during the last World Cup.

Sourav Ganguly, the left-hander supreme, likes to avoid shaving on the day he is supposed to bat. Quite inelegant for someone who bats so elegantly at the crease.

The original `Little Master', Sunil Gavaskar through his 17-year- long career, made it a point to wear something new every time he went out to bat for India. It is mind boggling when you remember he played 125 Tests and countless innings, not to mention many one-dayers in the latter half of his illustrious career.

Gavaskar would find anything, just about anything, new to put on. It could be a new shirt, trouser, socks, undergarments, handkerchief, arm band, elbow guard, gloves, thigh guard, pads, just about anything before he went out to bat during his long career.

India's current coach Kapil Dev used to wear a copper bracelet and a chain around his neck. But he discarded the practice in his later years, saying if he was good he would do well without bracelets and chains.

Rodney Marsh, Australia's stumper of the 70s, carried a small photo of John Blackham, the first wicketkeeper of the national side, through out the Centenary Test against England at the MCG in 1976-77.

Marsh also made it a point to look over his left shoulder every 10 or 15 paces as if he was checking that nobody was following him. Ian Chappell is believed to have gone through an entire tour of South Africa wearing the same pair of socks.

Adam Gilchrist always puts his left pad and left glove on first and puts his left foot on to the ground first when he walks out.

Dennis Lillee always thought it was best to be the last person in the team to walk on to the field. He also thought, when training, it would benefit his bowling if he managed to better his previous best time for a five or six kilometre run. Lillee genuinely believed if he did another 100 metres or so then he would get a couple more wickets.

Jeff Thomson, before the first Test against England in 1974-75, was spotted sitting in a bar with what looked like a glass of iced water in front of him. It turned out to be scotch on the rocks. Thomson had then confessed he always bowled faster whenever he had a hangover.

These days Michael Slater likes to kiss the Australian emblem on his helmet when he reaches a century and Ricky Ponting does the same to a little gold bat he wears around his neck.

Former West Indies opener Desmond Haynes always wore a gold chain around his neck with the words live-love-laugh inscribed.

- PTI

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