Cricketers are superstitious. One fine day, Neil McKenzie was pranked by his teammates. The former South African cricketer couldn’t find his bat. It turned out it was taped to the ceiling. After struggling, McKenzie managed to retrieve it and scored a hundred in the match. For the remainder of his career, McKenzie would tape his own bat to the ceiling before removing it and then going to bat.
Anything that could bring you, or your team, success has to be done. That’s what Team India did for their T20 World Cup 2026 semifinal against England. Supposed to hold their penultimate practice at the Wankhede Stadium, reports suggested that Team India postponed their training session by 1 hour due to the lunar eclipse. The eclipse was to last from 3:20 to 6:47 PM. India was to practice from 6 to 9 PM, but pushed it to 7, fearing bad luck.
Why did Team India postpone practice session?
On the eve of the India vs England semifinal, India’s assistant coach Morne Morkel was asked whether the reports were correct. And it was, in fact, the eclipse that delayed the practice session in India. Morkel confirmed that the management and players felt it was for the best to delay training.
“I was told about the lunar eclipse, and the session was pushed backward, but it was important to put in the efforts, which was good to see,” Morkel told reporters in Mumbai.
Last practice for IND vs ENG semifinal
After a high-intensity training session on February 3, only four players turned up for practice on February 4. These were Varun Chakravarthy, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, and Tilak Varma. Safe to say, most Indian players are feeling confident and don’t think one last practice would change anything.
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