ICC EFFECTS MAJOR CHANGES TO SPEED UP CRICKET ENCOUNTERS!

Variety is the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavour.” These William Cowper lines spring to mind after the recent ICC rule changes that will soon come into force and transform cricket in multiple ways. Most experts believe these changes will be both ‘khatta-meetha’ but agree they will definitely speed up matches which may eventually help the financial health of the sport. Most of the changes will come into effect from October 1 and were ratified by the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) on the recommendations of the ICC Cricket Committee led by BCCI President Sourav Ganguly.

REMOVING “UNFAIR PLAY” TAG
One of the most significant changes is removing the “unfair play” tag when the nonstriker is run out by a bowler for backing up too far and putting it in the normal “run-out” section. This mode of dismissal was in the news in the last few seasons of the IPL when Ravi Ashwin was ‘Mankading’ batters on the non-striker’s end. In 1948, Vinoo Mankad had thwarted the attempt of Bill Brown to gain a few yards at the bowler’s end by running him out – an act that led to much debate on whether it lived up to the spirit of the Gentleman’s game! Now, the ICC has decided to do away with any stigma around this mode of dismissal and legitimize the bowler’s attempt to deny the non-striker a few yards head-start before the ball is bowled. Ashwin had infamously run-out an inform Jos Buttler in the IPL in 2019 which had led to intense debate on the matter between fans and experts alike.

DO AWAY WITH USING SALIVA
The other big change is to completely do away with using saliva to polish the ball. This rule was already in effect since the Covid-19 crisis but has now been permanently put in place after much deliberation. The use of saliva along with sweat would often be the method to keep one side of the ball shining which would aid in reverse swing as one side got scruffed up. Already for the last 2 years, many former cricketers have been pointing to the diminishing art of reverse swing bowling as sides fail to look after the ball well after 25-30 overs. Now, with the prohibition in place, many experts feel that the art of reverse swing might just become a lost skill!

FIELDING TEAMS TO BE PENALISED
The issue of slow over rates in One Day Internationals has also been dealt with as fielding teams will now be penalised for not bowling their overs in required time. After the set time, whatever the number of overs remaining, the bowling team will have to bowl them with an extra fielder inside the ring. This rule has already been in place in T20s since January this year and was a big help for India recently in winning a league game against Pakistan in the Asia Cup a fortnight back. India was chasing and Hardik Pandya took full toll of the slow over rate penalty imposed on Pakistan, who were op top till that moment but had to bring in a fielder for the last couple of overs which tilted the match towards India!

STRIKE WITHIN TWO MINUTES
ICC’s effort to speed up the game and prevent unnecessary delays also reflects in another change. From now on, all incoming batsmen will have to take strike within two minutes in both Tests and ODIs. In T20s, the current rule of 90 seconds will remain unchanged. The earlier time allowed was 3 minutes but less time now will imply reducing time for advertisements which may result in loss of TV revenue! Another crucial change is that incoming batters will have to take strike even if the previous batsman was caught out and the two batsmen had crossed each other. In tight finishes with just a few wickets remaining, this rule change will benefit the bowling team a lot. Moreover, the fielding side will now be penalised 5 runs in case of any unfair movement while the ball is in play. Also, batsmen have to keep some part of their bat within the pitch or otherwise it’ll be declared a dead ball. Many of these changes had been introduced earlier in the year by the MCC. The new rules are bound to have a long-term impact on the game. It’s being felt that most of the changes are designed to globalise the game and make it appealing to American audiences who prefer smaller duration games. Their on-field impact will be strongly felt at next month’s T20 World Cup, the first ICC event where the new rules will come into effect!

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

SIDDHAARTH MAHAN The writer is a specialist on Sports and Cinema who works as an actor in the Hindi film industry