India to don orange 'away' jersey for England World Cup clash

 

BIRMINGHAM: India will don an orange-and-dark-blue shirt when they take on hosts England in their World Cup at Edgbaston today.

India, unbeaten in their six games, need just one win from their remaining three games to book a semi-final berth while Eoin Morgan´s England must win both of their final games to guarantee progress.

Of course, the change has not gone down well with everyone with some fans mocking the away team jersey.

Blue has been Indian cricket's dominant colour since the advent of coloured clothing but Virat Kohli, known for his fashion sense, was impressed by the new kit for Sunday's game at Edgbaston.

"I quite like it. I think it's right up there. For me it will be an eight (out of 10). Honestly, I am not saying that for the sake of it," Kohli said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday.

"The contrast is good, the fit is great. For one game it's fine. But I don´t think permanently we will be heading in that direction because blue is our colour and we are very proud to wear that."

 

Eight of the 10 nations at the World Cup have an alternate kit in case of a colour clash and England also wear light blue, hence the switch.

However, India is not the first team to wear an “away’ team jersey during this year’s tournament.

Four other teams in the tournament have had to wear different colours to avoid looking like their opposition.

Accordingly, blue-shirted Afghanistan opted for red in three of their matches.

South Africa, who usually wear green, chose gold for two matches while Sri Lanka swapped their blue for yellow for a couple of games.

Bangladesh, who were green, will don red in their July 5 match against Pakistan at the Lord’s.

Australia (yellow), New Zealand (black) and West Indies (maroon) already have unique jerseys and are hence exempted from having 'away' kits.

Out of the 10 nations competing at the World Cup in England and Wales, eight nations have alternate jerseys, according to ICC regulations for this tournament. 

The ICC rule reads, "For televised ICC events all participating teams will be required to provide for two different coloured kits, except for the host country who has preference in the choice of colour and may, if it chooses to do so, provide only one coloured kit to be worn in all matches throughout the event. In advance of the event, the teams will be notified which coloured kit will be worn in each match."