For generations, Indian cricket lovers are accustomed to seeing Team India take to the field in striking blue colours.
But things are about to change when Virat Kohli and Co. face hosts England in the 2019 ICC World Cup June 30 at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
As per the official ICC media guide, India will sport an orange jersey to prevent the clashing of colours against England who also don a shade of blue as their official kit.
Although yet to be made official, an Indian news agency posted the proposed new orange kit on social media. According to ICC rules, eight out of the 10 nations competing in the World Cup will have alternate jerseys.
“Colour options were given to BCCI and they chose the colour combination that looked the best to them. The whole idea is to be different from blue as England also wears the same shade of blue as India,” an ICC source was quoted as saying.
“Also the design (orange) is taken from India’s old T20 jersey which had orange in it. The designers who are sitting in USA designed this jersey from something that already existed and not something completely new that fans don’t identify with,” the source added.
Since England are the home team, India will have to wear jersey’s of a different shade.
Similarly, Sri Lanka will sport yellow in their games against India and England. Even umpires will have to wear different coloured uniforms in particular games.
“Umpires will wear a pink shirt in all matches except those matches involving West Indies, Afghanistan in red or Bangladesh in red. In those matches, a black shirt will be worn. For the West Indies-Afghanistan match a pink shirt will be worn,” the ICC media guide said.
PNN