“Shouldn’t be allowed”: Waqar Younis disapproves Gerhard Erasmus assessing Sharjah Cricket Stadium pitch during strategic timeout in ILT20 2023

Gulf Giants batter Gerhard Erasmus (3) put on display a novel strategy during a strategic timeout in the eighth match of International League T20 2023 against Dubai Capitals at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium last night.

In the general run of things, mostly members of the support staff (or captain, occasionally) and reserve players carrying drinks enter the playing area when a timeout is observed in a T20 match. However, Erasmus not only accompanied the coaches to the playing area but also walked all the way to the pitch to assess conditions.

In a 27-second video uploaded by Cricket on BT Sport on their social media platform Twitter handle, Erasmus is seen shadow batting right in the middle of a pitch with a member of the ground staff working to better its condition.

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Coming in to bat at No. 4 in the 13th over, Erasmus couldn’t execute his learning from a brief pitch assessment session after becoming the only scalp of Dubai Capitals captain Rovman Powell (1/14 and 0). The Namibian batter scored at a strike rate of 60 during his five-ball stay in the middle.

Waqar Younis disapproves Gerhard Erasmus assessing Sharjah Cricket Stadium pitch during strategic timeout

Calling the match from the commentary box for ZEE Network, former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis expressed severe disapproval of Erasmus’ actions.

“I wouldn’t want him to get out there [pitch]. Not sure why he’s at the pitch. Shouldn’t be allowed,” Younis said to his co-commentator.

Younis, one of the best fast bowlers the sport has ever seen, was right to not want an upcoming batter get any sort of familiarity with the pitch/conditions/ground. A strategic timeout should just be limited to coaching staff passing advice to the two batters batting in the middle.

Giants captain James Vince scoring 76 (48) with the help of four fours and as many sixes getting assistance from Shimron Hetmyer’s 37* (19) played a key role in the team posting an innings total of 181/6 in 20 overs. All-rounders David Wiese (3/3) and fast bowler Chris Jordan (3/12) picked three wickets each as Gulf bundled out Dubai for 80 in 14.3 overs to register a mammoth win on Thursday.