Cricket Rules And Regulations That Need Tweaking

November 10, 2020

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Jos Buttler has fallen victim of the mankad cricket rules on multiple occassions. — Sri Lanka's Sachithra Senanayake (R) appeals for the wicket of England's Jos Buttler (L) during the fifth One Day International (ODI) cricket match between England and Sri Lanka at Edgbaston in Birmingham, central England on June 3, 2014. AFP PHOTO/ANDREW YATES == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. NO ASSOCIATION WITH DIRECT COMPETITOR OF SPONSOR, PARTNER, OR SUPPLIER OF THE ECB == (Photo credit should read ANDREW YATES/AFP via Getty Images)

Amending the Cricket Rules

The cricket lawmakers constantly tweak cricket rules and regulations. The purpose of amendment is to make the laws in line with the common sense. For example, ICC after 2019 World Cup final has amended the super over tie law to ‘iterative super over until a winner’ rule. Previously, the winner in case of a super over tie was decided on the basis of number of boundaries. However, there still exist several cricket rules and regulations that need rectification.

So, what rules require tweaking in cricket by the ICC?

The Umpire’s Call

England were defied by Pakistan wicket keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan — Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan (L) and Pakistan’s Mohammad Abbas (R) talk between overs on the second day of the second Test cricket match between England and Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, southwest England on August 14, 2020. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. NO ASSOCIATION WITH DIRECT COMPETITOR OF SPONSOR, PARTNER, OR SUPPLIER OF THE ECB (Photo by GLYN KIRK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Under the current rules. when a team takes a review, the final decision rely heavily on what the on-field umpire’s verdict is. The reason being: “Technology is not hundred percent trustable”. However, the outcomes make this rule debatable. For example, consider the first match of Pakistan vs England Test series in 2020.

This match ultimately turned out to be the series decider, as the rest of the matches had drawn. In that close contest, the third umpire gave Stuart Broad not out and Muhammad Rizwan out LBW on the basis of umpire’s call after the fielding sides had opted for the review. England ultimately won that game by 3 wickets. However, the result could have been different, had the rule affected both teams uniformly.

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Mankading

So disappointed in @ashwinravi99 as a Captain & as a person. All captains sign the #IPL wall & agree to play in the spirit of the game. RA had no intention of delivering the ball – so it should have been called a dead ball. Over to u BCCI – this a not a good look for the #IPL

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) March 25, 2019

As a result of this rule, a bowler can run-out a batsman even before the bowl has been bowled. This happens in case the bowler sees the batsman out of his crease at the bowling end, while the bowler is about to deliver. In IPL, this rule stirred wild debate when Ashwin Mankaded Buttler during one of the league games.

While many critics came hard on Aswhin, few of the ex-cricketers backed his decision and stated his action to be completely within the rules and spirit of the game. Nevertheless, the Sri Lankan spinning wizard ‘Muttiah Muralitharan’ has suggested one logical alternate to this rule. He has proposed a penalty of 5 runs instead of declaring the batsman run out. Should such new cricket rules be discussed?

Review System Misuse

Jason Holder wasted time in using reviews unnecessarily. This is against the spirit of law but in line with cricket rules. — MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – JULY 20: Joe Root of England ‘fist bumps’ Jason Holder of West Indies after victory on Day Five of the 2nd Test Match in the #RaiseTheBat Series between England and The West Indies at Emirates Old Trafford on July 20, 2020 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Jon Super/Pool via Getty Images)

ICC has still not placed any rule against the misuse of review system. One such event occurred on the final day of the second Test match between England and West indies. Windies wanted to draw that game. Therefore, Jason Holder used all the available reviews with purpose to just take some time out of the match. However, Holder did not receive any penalty for this act.

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Appeal after Watching a Replay

Krunal Pandya Ravindra Jadeja bats against New Zealand 2020 in a T20 — Indias Ravindra Jadeja bats during the third Twenty20 cricket match between New Zealand and India at Seddon Park in Hamilton on January 29, 2020. (Photo by MICHAEL BRADLEY / AFP) (Photo by MICHAEL BRADLEY/AFP via Getty Images)

The MCC law 31.3 states that: “For an appeal to be valid, it must be made before the bowler begins his/her run-up or, if there is no run-up, his/her bowling action to deliver the next ball, and before Time has been called.” As a result of this law, in few of the run out instances where the fielding side initially overlooked to launch an appeal, have been seen appealing after watching the replay on the screen.

One of the example of this event was during the first match between India and West Indies in December 2019. Jadeja was given out when Windies made an appeal after watching the replay on the screen. The controversy in this law is that: Is it right to get information from outside to make an appeal to the umpire? While on the other hand, to ask for a review the available time is only 15 seconds, so that no one can get any tip or signal from outside who might have seen the replay of the event.

Cricket Rules Changes

However, cricket rules can take time to be changed. The ICC formally have to get together and decide how they want to approach it and whether or not some of the rules are under scrutiny or unfair. As a result, this is likely to be a long term process. Cricket rules that are in place now are here to stay.

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