Reason why England batsmen didn't sport caps while facing spinners like Virat Kohli did

The Headingley Test didn’t end inside three days thanks to India batting well in their second essay. They were under extreme pressure trailing by 354 runs but their top four stood tall and in the end, it was the duo of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli who were unbeaten in the middle. India ended the day on 215/2, 139 behind England, due to bad light.

England bowled spinners from both ends for last 10 overs or so after umpires cleared that light isn’t good enough for the pacers to bowl. When Joe Root agreed to bowl spinners from both the ends, the India captain Virat Kohli was quick to sport a cap, a rarity nowadays, and scored some easy runs on offer. He ended the day unbeaten on 45 off 94 balls with six fours.

Interestingly, when the conditions were similar for England to bat and they were looking comfortable, none of their batsmen were seen wearing a cap. Rather not even in recent memory they’ve ever sported a cap while facing spinners. Joe Root didn’t wear it in Chennai during his splendid double-century.

ECB’s head protection regulations

Why are England batsmen resisting wearing caps while batting? Elizabeth Ammon, sports reporter at The Times, has revealed that the ECB has made it mandatory for the batsmen to wear helmet irrespective of whom they are facing. The ECB head protection regulations are set that way and all the batsmen playing professional cricket will have to abide by it.

“To answer the question why kohli can bat in a cap but England players aren’t allowed to….. the ecb head protection regs state that anyone playing professional or pathway cricket must wear a helmet to bat in. Even against a spinner,” the tweet read.

The rule is clearly to protect the batsmen from being hit on the head. Even if the spinner is bowling, there is a possibility of the ball accidentally hitting a batsman’s head via a throw from the fielder too and this could be the reason to make wearing helmets mandatory.