Introduction
ICC or International Cricket Council, the administrative and governing body of the game having a 2.5 billion fan base worldwide and the second-largest sport followed in the world only after soccer. Cricket, known to be originated in England and parts of Australia, used to be a leisure pass time for the shepherds in the mountains in the sixteenth century. From there, the development of the game to the second most followed sport in the world was quite unpredictable and breathtaking. ICC was formed in 1909 and the first officials were from England, Australia and South Africa.
Why do ICC rules need to be changed?
The ICC decided many rules for the game to convert it from a leisure sport to a professional sport. Since the first time the rules for the game were laid down, many amendments have been made to them according to the needs of the game. For an example, during the initial days, cricket was played with bats shaped like hockey sticks, but amendments were made one after the other to arrive at the current standard shape and size of the cricket bat.
Even today, many ICC rules are present which need to be changed because, in some way or the other, they are either becoming a burden for the teams or making the game unfair. The recent incidents such as the ‘Jos Buttler-R Ashwin Mankading’ or the controversial ICC Men’s World Cup final emphasize the need for changes even more.
Some ICC rules which need an amendment
1. Mankading Rule- One of the most controversial dismissal methods in cricket, Mankading, recently gained popularity as Indian spinner and Kings XI Punjab skipper, Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Jos Butter of Rajasthan Royals through this method. The Mankading method is named after Indian cricketer Vinoo Mankad who attempted this dismissal while playing against Australia. The Mankading rule states that if the non-striker batsman is out of the crease before the bowler has delivered the ball, the bowler can dismiss a batsman by removing the bails at the non-striker’s end.
Ashwin had already attempted Mankading once when playing in the Indian jersey, but as the skipper denied their choice of dismissal through Mankading, the game progressed. Though the ICC rules support Mankading, the need for this rule to be changed or clarified is felt by cricket lovers, followers and experts alike.
2. DRS Rule- DRS or Decision Review System plays a very important role in ensuring every cricket match is played in a fair manner and every dismissal is fair and accurate. Decision Review System allows both the team's one or two chances (per innings depends on the format of game played) to question the umpire's decision. The final decision of match umpires can be questioned if the players suspect that the decision is wrong and the skipper of the fielding side or the batsman himself can ask for a review with the third umpire.
The DRS rule has reduced the number of wrong decisions made by the umpires and have led to better levels of decision-making during matches but there are some aspects of it which still have lots of room for improvement.
- The maximum number of reviews per team is limited to one per innings in the limited-overs format and two per 80 overs in the test format. Only if a review is successful or the review is unsuccessful because of an ‘Umpire’s Call’ situation, it is retained, otherwise, it is lost. Although this restriction is important to protect the interests of umpires, it limits the decision-making accuracy and should be looked into.
- The decisions involving ‘Umpire’s Call’ situations need to be dealt with more wisely. In an LBW decision, for example, where less than 50% of the ball’s surface is projected to be hitting the stumps, a batsman is adjudged as out if the on-field umpire had given him out, and not-out if he had been adjudged as not-out by the on-field umpire. This highlights that even the DRS system is not 100% accurate and during such situations, the benefit of the doubt is given to the on-field umpire and not giving the correct decision.
3. The Super Over Rule- The world witnessed the best ever final in the history of the cricket world cup as New Zealand locked horns with the hosts England. As the match ended in a draw, the super over was called in and to everyone's surprise, the super over too ended in a draw. Satisfying the third condition laid down, being the team to hit the most number of boundaries in the game, England were declared as winners of the game and champions of the tournament.
But the world cup final turned out to be a controversial topic ruling the social media for some days. ICC and its rule on super-over were trolled immensely everywhere. Cricket fans all over the world trolled ICC for making cricket a batsman's game. Judging the winner of the game as per the number of boundaries hit made England victorious, but at the same time, New Zealand had picked a number of wickets.
Suggestion- The decision of choosing a winner by the number of boundaries for matches that end in a tie should be changed and some other parameter needs to be decided, or the tie-breaker matches could be decided with 5 over matches to reduce the probability of a tie in the tie-breaker.
4. DLS Method Rule- DLS Method or Duckworth Lewis Stern method, popularly known as the Rain rule is used when rain or bad lighting or similar weather conditions interrupt the game. The target of the team batting second is adjusted after the interruption is over and if full overs can’t be bowled. If the game can’t be continued, then the winner is decided based on whether the team batting second has scored the number of runs specified by the DLS method or not.
DLS method while calculating a target for the chasing team takes in several parameters into account, such as the number of wickets that have fallen and the wicket conditions after a rain. Even if this sounds genuine, the DLS Method has proved to be ridiculous and sometimes absurd while fixing the target for the chasing team and while declaring winners on the basis of their performance.
Suggestion- Some simplification to the existing DLS rule may work well to restore the game when bad weather conditions stop the play in between. After all, sometimes having simple rules is the best way to go.
Conclusion
Even though the ICC has implemented some weird rules in the game of cricket, a good number of them are not taken into consideration here as most of them have a legit reason behind. The rules that were mentioned were those which had come into question in the wake of recent incidents that took place during some of the world’s most popular cricket festivals, namely, the Indian Premier League and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.
These rules don’t require a ban. Instead, small changes and modifications to them will help in making the game better and help it prosper in many ways. After all, withholding the spirit of the game and making it enjoyable for everyone is the main goal.
- Ajay Sreeram
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- Ajay Sreeram
Want to get published on EMN and join the community? Here is an opportunity to join the Board of Young Leaders Program by Eat My News. Click here to know more: bit.ly/boardofyoungleaders
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