HOW TO CREATE A LOVE STORY BETWEEN BAT & BALL

Cricket, the gentleman’s game, has been a batsman's game from ages, the rules mostly favors the batsman as compare to the bowlers. But since the 2007 Wt20 things even got worst for bowlers, the game has changed dramatically, if we go back in the 90s or early 2000s, 250 was a par score and 280+ almost a winning total but now a days it’s difficult to defend a total of 320 in a 50 over game. The mindset of batsman after playing so much T20 cricket has been changed, Scoring 300 by a team has become a trend now days in ODIs, teams are scoring at 3.50+ run rates even in tests and who can forget the 264 runs by Rohit Sharma in an ODI game against Sri Lanka. AB de Villiers and Corey Anderson also scored their fastest centuries when these batting friendly rules were active; from the drop-in pitches to short boundaries, big bats also favored the batsman. Well to be honest this kind of only batsman’s dominant cricket is not really famous among the ones who really understand cricket. It was all going for the batsman, the batting power play in the last overs, two new balls which almost took the reverse swing out of the game, only 4 fielders allowed outside of the circle which made spinners to bowl with defensive approach rather than being wicket takers.

The Power play Saga

Introduced in Australia in 1980s, allowing two fielders outside the circle in the 1^st fifteen overs and then five fielders for the next remaining overs was the 1^st and most common rule in ODIs. 2005 where cricket initially starts to favor the batsman more, the power plays were divided into 3 blocks in ODIs, 1^st ten overs compulsory power play and then five overs of bowling and five overs of batting power plays with the bowling team being able to choose the timing of both, that made it 20 overs of field restrictions. Further to make it more in favor of the batsman, the batting side was given the authority to decide the timing of one of the two power plays. It just made cricket only the game of the batsman, bowler’s economy rates and averages went high incredibly. That didn’t made a great impression in cricketing world, soon ICC realized it and made further changes in the Power plays, this time they tried to give some leverage to the bowlers by making it mandatory to the batting and bowling side to take the power plays in between 16^th over to 40^th over, but that went the other way around, this was the time where most of the 300+ scores have been made by the batting teams. ICC made further improvements on power plays in 2012, reducing the number of blocks of Power plays from three to two. Now only four fielders were allowed outside the circle after the mandatory power play of 1^st ten overs which also didn’t help the cause of bowlers.

Finally the decision came from ICC in 2015 which allowed the bowler to have 5 fielders in the last 10 overs. The whole innings made as a composition of 3 power plays.

Power play 1: from 1^st to 10^th over- allowed only 2 fielders outside the circle

Power Play 2: from 11^th to 40^th over- allowed only 4 fielders outside the circle

Power Play 3: from 41^st to 50^th over –allowed 5 fielders outside the circle

That gave a bit of cushion to the bowlers as compared to the previous power play rules.

But to make it balanced they should allow 5 fielders for the last 20 overs, that’s what I have been thinking, it will also bring the spinner into the game once again and will allow the bowlers to bowl more freely.

The Good, the Bad, & the Big Bats

Bats Then & Now

Hitting sixes has become a very easy thing now a days as compared to the 90s cricket because of the bat sizes we have now a day, it’s a good thing that the bat companies are trying to get the best quality bats for the cricket players but it’s really bad for the game of cricket. If you want to have big bats in the game then there shouldn’t be any restriction on the ball seam or weight too. To create balance between the bat and the ball, ICC should ban big bats. But what I thing is that ICC should allow big bats and also make the boundaries big so that it will make a balance between bat and ball which will also produce competitive games of cricket. There should be a minimum of 80m boundary which will definitely test the batsman technique and strength to clear the fence, will also test the fitness of the fielders in the outfield.

Love Between Bat and Ball

Love is watching the Ball hitting the Middle of the Bat

The minute batsman plays a well-timed shot from the middle of the bat whether it’s a Sachin straight drive, Sanga’s cover drive or Afridi’s Booming Six it’s always a great feeling to hear that sound of the bat, but it becomes even better when the ball hits the timber of the stumps. When love becomes one sided it always have created breakup, to get a good relationship it has to be a both way similar response.

In test cricket bat and ball still have a happy relationship; the dating points (Pitches & Grounds) favoring both. But there is a bit of unhappiness when it comes to ODIs & T20s. The reason can be the color of the ball. Red supposed to be a color which represents love and white doesn’t have such history. But some people prefer white roses as compared to red roses if it’s like this then you need to look for changes to make your relationship better. I still believe there is room to make some changes and create a balance between bat and ball. 

In the End Cricket is the winner, the better you play it the more it get stronger, and that's a sign of a strong relationship.