Sunday, September 06, 2009

Sachin's 25+25.. Shouldn't it be 26 + 26?

Yesterday Sachin suggested a new format for One day cricket - i.e. to have two 25 over innings to ensure fairness and avoid un"due" advantage for toss-winners.  Few more ideas to make cricket a "Fair" game:

  • West Indies team should be banned since there are no "fair" players. South Africa can play provided it has all fair players in its squad. India won't have a problem since players who are not fair can use one of the innumerable number of creams available in the market (Yes, fairness guaranteed in 7 hours flat!)
  • Current format is unfair to bowlers - i.e. only batsmen have gloves, helmet, pads, in addition to something called "bat". To make it a "fair" game, (a) batsmen have to be made "handsmen" to hit the ball with hand OR  (b) the bowlers have to be given gloves, and an instrument (like a revolver) to shoot the ball.
  • Existing format is favorable to big-hitters. When the ball is bowled at 140 Kmph, it's not difficult to hit fast / hard. What's difficult is to hit it slow / light  i.e. "contain" the ball at such high speeds. The ground should have concentric circle. If the ball is contained within the innermost circle, the player gets 10 runs! The farther it goes, lesser the runs!
  • 2 Vs 11 players. Bowlers get moral support on the ground while batsmen don't. Unfair to the batsmen indeed! After every ball, batting side captain should be allowed to talk to the batsmen. Better would be to allow all the 11 players from the batting side to be on the field. Similar to how the bowling team is trying to stop the ball from reaching boundary, the batting team will try to send the ball to boundary - it would be a truly team game.
  • The current format is unfair to umpires in multiple ways. (a) The elderly umpires with tainted eyesight have to see where the ball lands / travels in such a large ground and that too, 360 degree from the center of the ground! Either  the ball size is to be increased and colour changed to some fluorescent green or flashy orange OR they should be given electronic high resolution binoculars fitted with sensors which can track the balls automatically (b) There is "man of the match", but there is no "umpire of the match" or "man of umpiring" - so, should give an award to the umpire who gives the most number of OUTs and/or boundaries.
  • It's called "ODI" - "One Day International" - irrespective of whether it's a day match, night match or day/night match. It's completely unfair for the nights. So, usage of the term ODI should be banned.
  • Cricket seems to unfairly rhyme with wicket. Apart from wicket, there are important aspects in the game like score, ball, bat etc.. So, to make it fair, we should have names like Cricore, Criball, Cribat, Critumps etc
  • Bowler should be allowed to stand and throw the ball, while batsman has to run and swing the bat in a specific manner to hit the ball - Any player with suspected action in swinging the bat has to go through grueling session by ICC to get cleared for playing in any international matches.
  • Instead of ball being thrown, the bat has to be thrown to hit the static ball.
  • Last but not the least, why should it be stopped at 25 in Sachin's suggestion? Isn't it unfair to the letter "Z"? We should have 26 big overs (overs can be called "over C", "Over R" etc) and 26 small overs ("over m", "over t" etc)

The list can go on and on... The game can be made fairer by having less of the existing cricket elements and more of elements copied from other games such as foot ball, tennis etc.  Nevertheless, cricket is such a complex game that it can never be made fair to everyone. Btw, who said life and cricket are always fair? That's where the fun lies!

2 comments:

Siddharth Lotlikar said...

Dwello is the new place to buy Homes. Buy your new home with confidence with Dwello. Dwello - The Right Address is Waiting
Property In Moshi
Property In Mulund

Siddharth Lotlikar said...

Dwello is the new place to buy Homes. Buy your new home with confidence with Dwello. Dwello - The Right Address is Waiting
Maple Greens
Aashirwad Homes
Goodwill Crescent