Zaheer Khan didn’t rely on superstitions during his career but even he had some aspects of his routine he preferred to keep unchanged for his entire career.
S Sreesanth during India’s tour of West Indies in 2006. Image: Reuters
Superstitions occupy a place of prominence in the match-day routines of the greatest of athletes. Zaheer Khan and Wasim Jaffer, JioCinema experts, got into a conversation in the commentary box over how serious certain cricketers get about superstitions before every match.
Jaffer narrated a story of S Sreesanth eating a two-day-old banana for good luck before a Test match in 2006 in Jamaica. “Mane kaka (Ramesh Mane, the masseur) used to be with the team at the time and he used to hold prayer rituals. Sreesanth was very superstitious. I haven’t seen a fast bowler this superstitious. Mane kaka had a ritual where he’d put incense sticks in a banana to make it stand upright. Someone teased Sreesanth and said, ‘If you eat the banana, you will take five wickets in the match’. The banana had been lying there for two days and he ate it for the wickets,” said Jaffer.
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Khan didn’t rely on superstitions during his career but even he had some aspects of his routine he preferred to keep unchanged for his entire career.
“When I was preparing to bowl and wearing spikes, I had a routine which I do even now when with my normal shoes. It’s become a routine, first, you wear the left shoe and tie the laces, then the right… Superstitions are a separate part of cricket. ‘I watched this movie yesterday so I will watch it before every match’, that’s basically a way to make you think of a good time. Some keep a red handkerchief in their pockets.”
Khan also revealed that players would really commit to their superstitions, saying unnamed players would wear the same set of clothes for the entire Test to preserve luck in their garments.
“There were cricketers who while playing in the Ranji Trophy or a Test match, if they bowled a good spell in a session, they would not wash those clothes again. Those clothes have luck and the luck needs to be kept intact. You can imagine what comes over the 10 players that are playing alongside them. This has happened and even stretched to underwear! If you wash the clothes, you wash the luck away and can’t get it back.”
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