Most cricketers have superstitions. The hunger for victory in a cricket match, the fear of failure, the desperation to win, all these sentiments are combined and lets the human mind get conditioned over a period of time. Hence, habits emerge and when those habits are unique or away from the norm they are termed as superstitions. And if you try to comprehend superstitions, you realize more often than not they are nothing but stupid addictions.
Cricket has a rich history of superstitions; the "nelsons": when the score is 111, 222 (double nelson) it is considered unlucky. Who can forget the image of a fiery red-faced David Shepherd leaping off the ground on one foot to counter the nemesis.
More common rituals are: wearing the left pad first, kissing the bat while batting, making sure you take strike first etc. Former England skipper Mike Atherton never gave an interview, if he stayed not out overnight during a test match. Neil McKenzie of South Africa makes sure that his toilet seats are closed before leaving from the dressing room and he would strike the bat to the ceiling of the dressing room before every innings. Mark Ramprakash would always chew the same piece of chewing gum throughout an innings, and stick it to the top of his bat if he was not out overnight. He once batted for 10 hours, spread over three days, which must have left him with a pretty tired jaw. The "red handkerchief/cloth" has a sacred place in cricketing history as the favourite accessory whether it was Steve Waugh, Jimmy Amarnath or more recently Virendra Sehwag. All of them considered it their lucky charm and carried it on the cricket field. Interestingly all of them are right handed batsman, though with distinct batting styles.
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