India cricket legends Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri were not big fans of the laser show at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in the India innings of the Super 8 game against West Indies at the T20 World Cup on Sunday. The India vs West Indies Super 8 game of the T20 World Cup was on a knife’s edge when the teams took a break after the powerplay ended. At this point, the Indian team were 53/2 after having lost their batting stars Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan for identical scores of 10 runs each. Sanju Samson had taken upon himself the responsibility of keeping India’s run rate racing with a quick 24 from 13 balls.
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In the three-minute break after powerplay, the stadium was plunged into darkness as a laser show played out. The two Indian cricket legends did not appreciate the display that came at a critical time with a spot in the semi-finals of a T20 World Cup on the line. As both of them pointed out, the laser show had the potential to affect a batter’s eyesight at a crucial time of the World Cup.
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“The laser show during the two-and-a-half or three minutes of the drinks break… it’s not easy on the batters, or anybody for that matter. To get your eyes used to the light, to get the bright lights again, you have darkness around you,” Gavaskar said on the commentary for the game.
Gavaskar continued: “You have a laser thing going on. This is the World Cup. And for two and a half minutes, do you need this kind of entertainment? In the IPL, it’s fine in the middle of the IPL. Not in the knockouts, but in the middle of the IPL, that is fine. But at the moment here, in the World Cup, do we need these laser shows in the middle of the drinks break, at the drinks interval?”
To this, Shastri added: “And from the players’ point of view, to switch back on, is never easy. It’s serious stuff.”
