Cricket Becoming SixKet:ICC New Rules favoring of the batsmen!!!
August 25, 2008
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The sport of Cricket since the decade of nineties has been gaining popularity all over the world with the Cricket World Cups being ranked amongst one of the most viewed sports events. And now with the introduction of the Twenty-20 format,Indian Premier League and other leagues, people from all groups of ages are beginning to show their huge interest in Cricket.
International Cricket Council is consistently looking to introduce new innovations and rules so that the minor flaws in the game can be rectified. Almost in every major series we see controversies when an umpire makes a mistake at a crucial juncture of the game resulting in suffering of one team.
Several new rules have been introduced (some of them have already been scraped) by ICC in the past few years; regardless of the fact whether they are for the good of the game or not but one point upon which most cricket pundits have consensus is that the game has quickly tilted towards the batsmen. While time is being wasted in thinking of needless new rules and regulations in order to improve cricket less time is being spent by ICC to address this issue. People are losing interest quickly as more and more runs are being scored all around the world and new records being broken by batsmen everyday but the bowlers failing to impress at all. The poor quality of pitches prepared by ICC’s own curator was evident in the Champions Trophy held in India and the World Cup 2007. The pitches being produced in 50 over matches are usually flat, especially in the subcontinent, prepared with the intention that chasing side can easily manage a target of even 300. It is true that fours and sixes bring excitement to the crowd but bowlers should have equal opportunities to show their skills and talent. Batting friendly pitches have shortened the careers of many talented pacers while shorter boundaries discourage spinners to show their true potential.
Reverse swing, a lethal weapon first used by Pakistani bowlers was also discovered because the state of the pitches in Pakistan has been poor and the bowlers had no choice but to find new ways to trouble the batsmen. Bit now reverse swing has been some what eliminated from the 50 over game as according to the new rule ball must be changed after 34 overs have been bowled, and that is just about the time when quick bowlers start reversing. And to give more headaches to bowlers the FREE-HIT rule and the three POWER-PLAYS have been brought in recently, the former no doubt discourages over stepping but once again the batsmen get advantage over the bowlers. While the latter forces the bowlers to bowl on strict line and length and provides batsmen with the opportunity to swing their arms while the ball is hard and new.
Another new issue recently raised is claiming a catch by a fielder while he is unsure that he caught it or not. It is a fact that often fielders take a catch but still they remain unaware that the ball bounced just short, so they motion to the umpire to ask the Third umpire. But there have been many instances when umpires declined to refer it as the fielder was himself unsure, but cameras showed that it was a fair catch. And even if the claimed catch is referred, often a camera frame is missing and the benefit of the doubt goes to the batter. It is clear that with the exception of a few rules nearly all are in favor of the batsmen.
Instead of wasting precious time in thinking about how to bring new rules in cricket the ICC should start taking steps to ensure that the spectators get to see a competition that provides both batsmen and bowlers with equal opportunities to dazzle the crowd. It is a misconception that the masses want to see a high scoring encounter resulting in a total debacle for the bowlers; instead many would love to see a low scoring nail biter.
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August 28th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Cricket Becoming SixcKet:ICC New Rules favoring of the batsmen…
Cricket is losing its charm and excitment because of recent rule changes that all seem to favor the batsmen over bowlers. While everyone likes fours and sixes, changing the rules by shortening time a ball can be used as well as how the bowlers must bow…
August 25th, 2008 at 4:28 am
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