Sri Lankan computer analyst Prad Navaratnam was seen sending coded messages to his team captain Dasun Shanaka during the two recent crucial Asia Cup matches against Bangladesh on Thursday and Afghanistan on Saturday.
The codes read 2D, D5, A2, C4, D etc.
Apparently, the codes were sent in consultation with the head coach Chris Silverwood, who was sitting next to him in the dugout.
Sri Lanka seemed to have followed England, who also used real-time coded signals from the dressing room in the T20 series in South Africa in 2020. It was for communicating with the then skipper Eoin Morgan on the field. Silverwood, who was a coach with the English team then was criticised by former England captain Michael Vaughan.
Lance Klussner, who was a head coach with the Afghanistan team till recently, does not see value in it. "No, I don't like this system (of sending coded signals to the captain). I never used it (during my time with the Afghanistan coaching)", he said over the telephone from Australia, where he is a batting coach with the Zimbabwe team, which won the third ODI against the hosts on Saturday.
"It may sound interesting, but it's not new and personally I don't see value in it. The coach can easily send the messages to the fielding side during over-breaks or drinks interval", he added.
"If you trust your captain while fielding and your batsman while batting to make the correct decisions there is no need for this messaging", he concluded.
There's nothing wrong in this, and no rocket science, believe Mickey Arthur and Grant Flower, who were recently the Head Coach and the batting coach with the islanders.
"Those are signals that keep and give the captain options, that's all. You remind the captain of potential matchups and give him an option. It is then upto the captain whether he wants to use them or not '', Arthur, speaking exclusively, said.
"It is only done when the team is fielding".
"I am not sure how their system works but I imagine that it is a signal telling them which bowler to bowl and when. Then it's up to the captain to make a call", Flower said.
Arthur, during his stint with the Sri Lankan team didn't use this tactic.
