Face masks for bowlers? Three players weigh in after Ashoke Dinda blow

Ashoke Dinda was struck on the forehead in his bowling follow through during a friendly match in Kolkata as he tried to take a sharp catch

After Ashoke Dinda suffered a horrific injury in his follow through, several players have stressed on the need for more protection for bowlers in order to shield them from potentially fatal injuries.

File photo of Ashoke Dinda. (Getty Images)

Dinda was struck on the forehead in his bowling follow through during a friendly match in Kolkata as he tried to take a sharp catch. He was taken to a hospital for treatment after complaining of dizziness in the aftermath of the accident.

The former India international has since recovered and has advocated the need of face masks for bowlers in order to provide them protection.

“By the grace of god, nothing much happened (following the injury). But it’s always good to be safe rather than being sorry. Cricket is evolving and the bowlers also need some protection. It will be good if we can have face masks or something similar,” Dinda told The Telegraph.

He further added that the advent of T20 has made the batsmen more aggressive in their approach.

“It could be because of the T20 effect No doubt that the batsmen are more aggressive in T20s and that has crept into other formats as well,” Dinda added.

Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat weighed in on the debate on Twitter.

‘About time that a “face-mask” for bowlers makes its way into all that has evolved in cricket. Its scary how this kind of incidents have become frequent in our game! Hope you good Dinda @dindaashoke .. What do you say Ash bhai? @ashwinravi99”, he wrote, tagging Ravichandran Ashwin.

“Been saying it since 2011, these kind of incidences never used to happen in the pre T 20 Era. Something has surely changed , wonder what it is”, Ashwin responded to Unadkat’s prompt.