The Kolkata players were tight-lipped about the sign language, but the team have used the T-sign, drawing a box in the air, and a semi-circle behind their legs, in the last two games. “We have been asked not to talk about this to anyone. It nullifies the basic purpose of developing it if everyone knows what it all means. Let the teams use their technical back-up to find out what are we telling our team mates,” a KKR player said.

The Pakistan team had briefly used signs to communicate on the field in the 90s — bowler Wasim Akram would raise his non-bowling arm to signal a slower ball to the wicketkeeper, and the the non-striker would switch his bat from one hand to the other to indicate to the batsman where the shiny side of the ball was.

Otherwise in cricket, skippers usually believe in talking to the bowlers regarding field settings and strategy.