New rules digging graveyard for bowlers

Dhoni is not all that excited about sixes and fours

No game is finished until the last ball is bowled. Cricket is a different ball game, cried the devotees of the game, but long back. There was so much emphasizing on the ‘ball’ when cricket was talked about. The newly implemented ICC rules in place which are ludicrous by any standard have severely tampered the shine and reputation of the ball. Cricket, has now become a different ‘bat’ game. Is someone going to be penalised for ball tampering? There ought to be.

Cricket in its pure form is a contest between the ball and the bat. With all fairness, the game has enough for a bowler and a batsman to prove his worth. On a 22 yard strip, the sight of a batsman padded up against a fiery fast bowler steaming in is the real combat. A good spell of pace bowling demanded agility and resilience. Squaring a batsman who is wielding a willow with a five and a half ounce leather ball cannot be done with ease. It is an art by itself. As for the proponents of spin bowling, there is no better sight than tossing the ball above batsmen’s eye line and beating them in flight, be it an off-spinner or a leg-spinner. A huge six out of the park followed by a wrong one that completely leaves the batsman clueless and sometimes dislodges the stumps was nothing less than entertaining. Until the spawn of T20 cricket, match scores of 260 or more in a 50 over match was above par. The batting side left the field with immense confidence of defending the total.

Times have changed. The colour and texture of the game took an overhaul. Entertainment has gone a long way stretching far off its face value. Pulling in herds of frolicsome crowd to fill every nook and corner of the stadium and securing broadcast rights found atop the agenda of cricket governing bodies. Games where ball dominated the bat were low scoring, hence imprudently adjudged dull and insipid. People who flocked into the stadium or subscribed cricket channels loathed such games. The appeal and glamour of cricket is accentuated with the number of runs whacked off the batsman’s blade and how quickly the ball turns bald.

In the past, bowlers had the advantage, in the form of pitch – fast and bouncy or rank turners coupled with fairly large grounds. Batsmen in the middle with the long handle had to endure the dread of orb targeted at him. Technique and defiance determined the survival of the fittest, yet piling up a decent score on board for the team. There was no room for pre-meditation and switch hits. In the current cricket arena, everything is orchestrated for the convenience of a batsman. One could spot bats of different shapes and thickness, call it the mongoose or the menace, on the field. Outfields are tonsured and boundary lines are pulled in to ensure twos are converted into fours, a mishit in the air into sixes. Players now play to the gallery. ICC and other national governing bodies play to broadcast corporations and other alleys.

In the frenzy of Kohli banishing the Australians at Nagpur, at least a handful of cricket fans missed out on a thriller of a game held in Sharjah between Pakistan and South Africa. Pakistan needed 19 runs off 55 balls with 6 wickets to spare. The end result was South Africa snapped off Pakistan’s batting trunk to clinch a lone wicket win. That was probably the ultimatum of entertainment for a cricket fan, not for a Pakistani fan though. The game calls for close matches, matches that take the breath away of spectators. Such games must see fall of wickets along with runs scored.

Post Nagpur match, Dhoni was apprehensive of the new rules of the game. With two new balls from both ends and five fielders inside the circle there is little room for bowlers to err. Modern cricket game has seen innovative cricketing shots like upper cut, reverse sweep, scoop, paddle sweep, switch hits and many more. The other bunch of guys who roll their arms over too deserve a platform to showcase their set of skills and innovate deliveries that will skip your heart beat in awe. The current scenario however is not going to help the cause. Should the trend continue, a bowling machine is as good a specialist bowler? Yes, both wouldn’t make a difference to the crowd and the officials as long as fours and sixes are smashed without interval. A score of 300 or even 400 is not a fancy number anymore, those are targets captains are insecure about defending, at least on flat wickets in India, a country where money multiplies with every run on board.