The game of cricket is as much about skill and strategy as it is about little beliefs and quirks players carry with them.
In the latest episode of JioHotstar
special Cheeky Singles, former India cricketers Aakash Chopra and Pragyan Ojha took fans behind the scenes, opening up about some of the strangest superstitions from their playing days - along with a few unforgettable memories from the field.
Aakash Chopra recalled how, during his career, superstitions often played an unspoken role in a player's mindset.
"Sometimes someone would start believing in a lucky wristband, even the colour of the wristband mattered. Then, there were players who would believe in their jersey number. If the number they wanted was already taken, they'd go to a numerologist for advice. And then, there was someone like Virender Sehwag, who'd say, 'Forget all this, I'll play without the number'," Chopra shared, painting a colourful picture of the dressing-room culture.
Talking about his own superstition, Chopra reminisced about his early days. As a youngster, he had a special t-shirt in which he scored heavily, even getting selected for the India Under-19 team. Back then, players brought their own kit, but once on official duty, only the team jersey was allowed. Determined to keep his lucky charm, he wore the t-shirt under the India U19 jersey - carefully taping over the brand logo. He even scored runs in that match. However, once the shirt started wearing out, he decided it was time to outgrow the superstition.
"That's when I decided, get ahead of the t-shirt, work on your game instead," he admitted.
Chopra also addressed the so-called 'commentator's curse' - the belief that commentators jinx events by predicting outcomes.
"Sometimes, people troll me because I say, 'There might be a wicket here,' and then a wicket falls. you start getting messages like 'kaali zubaan' or 'panauti'. That's why for India matches, I do not predict anything. No matter how much you want to say, I will not," Chopra continued.
Former India player Pragyan Ojha also reminisced his superstitions and gave bad reception as reason for him becoming the 800th wicket for Muttiah Muralitharan.
"Whenever I used to get in the team bus before a match, I would automatically call my mom, then my dad. Even if both of them were sitting together, I'd call them separately. Then I'd call my uncle, who was a cricketer and the one who inspired me to take up the game. Even if I had called my uncle 10 minutes before the match, he would have picked up. But in Sri Lanka, at that time, there was no network and the call didn't go through. Because of that, I became Muttiah Muralitharan's 800th wicket," Ojha shared.
