ICC nod for Sri Lanka to wear 'lucky yellow jersey'

The International Cricket Council, in a first, has acceded to Sri Lanka cricket team's request to allow them to wear their second choice "yellow jersey" for the remaining World Cup games, as they consider it to be "lucky" after winning against England.

The ICC has introduced a second choice jersey for each team in the competition where one team will be considered home and other away.

India is set to wear their second-choice jersey, dominated by orange colour compared to their usual blue, against England in Birmingham on June 30.

Sri Lanka wore a jersey that had yellow base, different from their usual navy blue base and their campaign was back in track after beating hosts England.

"The Sri Lanka team considers yellow jersey to be their lucky one. They put in a formal request if they could wear it against any other team in the competition. The ICC saw that it's not clashing with colours of other teams and hence they have been allowed," an ICC source said.

While Sri Lanka's second choice jersey did not create any controversy, India's bowling coach Bharath Arun was asked about his take on the colour of the second-choice jersey which has been politicised in some quarters.

"To be very honest, we are not even aware of which colour we are going to be wearing. So, we have not given any thought on that. All our focus is on the match tomorrow," Arun said.

In Mumbai, Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi on Wednesday said India’s cricket team wearing orange jersey could be "saffronisation".

Asked about the politicisation on this issue, Arun simply said, "We bleed blue and blue is going to be predominantly the colour tomorrow. That is it."