Strange superstitious beliefs of famous cricketers

Superstition has been part and parcel of every sport that is played on the planet and the cricket is not an exception. The legendary Don Bradman once said, “Friday the 13th, black cats, treading on cracks in the pavement and the figure(Figure) 87, are all silly superstitions and pure nonsense”.

The batsman for many years walked his talk by occupying Room 87 (which is still considered a devil's number in cricket), on the eighth floor of an office block opposite the Adelaide Town Hall. Certainly, he has been the least superstitious yet successful player, the game has ever seen.

Though it is said that only the efforts and skills do matter to excel in the game, it is accepted that the "S-factor" definitely plays an important role in boosting the player's confidence at right level before the start or during the game.

The least known of a lot of superstitious habits that several players around the world were/are fond of doing are listed here:

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#1 Unorthodox Smith

The Australian captain has past as well as present habits that are peculiar in their own ways. The unorthodox batsman used to avoid eating 'duck' the evening before the match, for the only reason of the bird bearing the name of the cursed cricketing term for the batsmen. The habit was given up when he accidentally ate some before Lord's Ashes Test in 2015 where he went on to score his then career-best score of 215*.

Then, the New South Wales player devised his own new habit of taping shoelaces to his socks from the season 2016 of Indian Premier League. The sole purpose was to hide his sight of shoelaces which he found to be quite a distraction while batting. The method had worked out for him as he scored a century against Gujarat Lions following which the habit had been repeating itself in every match of the international arena.

#2 Occupy same space

It might be surprising for most people to hear the odd superstitious habits of Rahul Dravid, one of the most technically sound batsmen of his era that comprised of several greats. The former Indian captain has the practice of putting his right thigh pad first.

However, the extreme superstitious side of Dravid was revealed by his wife once in an interview, "Last year before the Lord's Test, he (Rahul Dravid) made sure to sit in the same space Tillakaratne Dilshan had occupied in the visitors' dressing room when he scored nearly a double-hundred earlier in the season. Rahul scored his first hundred at Lord's in that game". She had referred the Lord's Test in 2011 where scored a lone fighting 103* in the first innings.

#3 Roll the bails

Since cricket is also the game of bowlers, the bowling department has its own set of superstitious tradition to follow in response to the batsmen. The Australian spinner Nathan Lyon has one of the unique habits that was revealed by his skipper Steve Smith. The bowler has a ritual of rolling the bails at bowling end whenever he comes to bowl a new spell or even new over in the same spell at times.

The country's best off-spinner of all the times has no reason to back his habit but that certainly has been having some positive impact on his mindset to strike.

#4 Obsession with number 3

Pace bowlers have their own superstitious steps to follow like Sreesanth praying to god and Malinga kissing the ball before each other's next delivery.

England's fast bowling all-rounder Stuart Broad has a quirky obsession with number three. When he comes to bowl, he marks his run up three times and bowls three balls during his warm-up. He even ties his boots up three times in the changing room.

It's that number that he believes makes him feel safe by his own words, "It's a strange superstition but something in the number three makes me feel safe. I do three sprays of aftershave before I go on the field". Clearly, this one has come into existence to have a positive effect on his confidence.

Well, sorry Broad for stacking this slide as #4 instead of #3.

#5 Borrow to regain the form

The Australian wicket-keeper Matthew Wade used to have his own method of regaining his form during days of the bad patch. He had used to get a fresh pair of socks of his teammate David Hussey which helped him to regain his form (sounds crazy?).

Here is what he revealed about his habit, "I had a weird one if I was struggling, I'd have to get a fresh pair of socks of David Hussey," Wade revealed. "As soon as I got a fresh pair of socks, brand new, out of the packet seemed to turn my form around, weird stuff like that. "