Ever since making his debut as the head coach of the Indian cricket team in Sri Lanka, Rahul Dravid is being closely observed by his fans for all the movement that he does, running between the dressing room and the dug-out, how he behaves after something significant happens in the match, and most importantly, how he sends across his message to the players on the field, through the 12th man.

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During the second of three T20Is between India and Sri Lanka, a similar moment took place at the end of the 18th over while the hosting squad was in the middle of chasing down India’s subpar 133-run total. 

The rain had interrupted the match for a brief stint as the Sri Lankan scoreboard read 113/6. The umpires had taken off the bails with groundsmen sprinting with covers to protect the pitch. This is when the coach wrote something on a piece of paper and asked the 12th man, Sandeep Warrier to deliver it to the skipper in a hurry.

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Reports suggest that the information of the chit was related to the infamous Duckworth-Lewis rule that is followed in international cricket, that decides issues such as the changes in the number of overs to be played or even the winner of the match, in case it gets disrupted due to irreversible circumstances, such as heavy rain.

At the moment when the game came to a halt, Sri Lanka were three runs short of the target according to the DLS rule, which means that if the match were to be abandoned at that very time, the Indian squad would have won it, and as a result, won the entire series as well.

Thankfully, the rain didn’t last long and the match resumed without any changes in the number of overs to be bowled. Sri Lanka ended up winning the match by four wickets and two balls to spare, therefore tying the series at 1-1. With no gap days between the second and third T20Is, both squads will not try their best to win the final match in order to bag the series.

The B-string of the Indian cricket team is expected to fly back home on July 30 (Friday). However, COVID-19 positive Krunal Pandya will not be making the journey back home with his teammates and will only be allowed to leave his hotel room once he is tested negative.

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