How good will the split innings format of ODIs be?

With the 2011 ICC World Cup round the corner, a new rule is under the scanner of World Cricket – some in favour and others not. Though, it seems like an interesting ploy to make One Day cricket more interesting and dynamic. With Twenty-twenty cricket being a prime attraction today, one day cricket had to change to draw more attention.

This new concept however was once proposed by Sachin Tendulkar in September 2009 after the rain-hit Champion’s Trophy 2002 Finals between India and Sri Lanka, where both the teams played for two days – 110 over, yet ending up with a draw.

The rules of this new version are as exciting as it sounds. There would be four innings, each of them to be played alternately by both the teams.  The first innings played by both the team would be of twenty overs, while the second one would be of twenty five. It seems to be like a test match, however limited. The most interesting aspect of this version would be – one player gets to bat twice in a single match. This gives a clear idea that the matches would be very high scoring and any team can make a come-back and win.
To make it clearer, below are the basic rules being drawn out:

• Fielding restrictions would be only for the first five over of all four innings.
• There is a big change in terms of the maximum number of overs allowed to one bowler. They are now allowed to bowl twelve overs instead of ten.
• The bowlers seem to be getting a lot of advantages here. They would be allowed to bowl two bouncers here instead of one. So, we can expect a lot of fireworks around.
• The team who leads the first innings would be awarded a point even though they end up losing the match.The One Day Internationals would be having twelve players instead of the conventional eleven. However, only eleven players out of them can bat in any given innings.

International Cricket Council however, is yet to decide on the implementation of the new rules of the road. They are in talks to multiple Cricketing Nations in order to have a feedback whether this style would help One Day Internationals restore their past glory. With the number of Twenty-twenty matches being played these days, and the number of spectators liking them, ODIs have been under a massive threat.

Today, people love to watch something which would give a result and a quicker result. In fact, there would be a higher chance of getting a result in this new style, even if half the match has been played. The intensity would be higher since the players would get two lives in a single match, which would lead them to take more risk and play more aggressively. Apart from that, captains would have a massive role to play in terms of strategizing on the field.

Looks like, cricket is moving in the right direction, provided ICC realizes that a revolution is required at the earliest – what better than implementing it during the upcoming World Cup!

Who's to blame?

Tendulkar was given out LBW 3 times in a row...which all of them should not have been given out...He was declared LBW in the first ODI when the ball was clearly pitched outside the leg stump, he fell LBW again in the second ODI when the ball was missing the leg stump and was again ruled leg-before by Sri Lankan umpire Gamini Silva on Tuesday when the ball was going down the leg side by an even wider margin.

The umpiring was terrible...Wrong umpiring decisions are common but three times in a row that too the same batsman..this is un-reasonable..

It's very disappointing to see Sachin given out by these very poor umpiring decisions...

But Sachin was moving way across the stumps which gave umpires a bit of doubt...But the decisions should be in favour of the batsman when the umpires have a doubt in their mind...

Who should be blamed now?? Sachin for his movement across the stumps? or umpires for their wrong decisions?

By the way why can't ICC implement that referral system in ODIs too??

India Vs Sri Lanka ODI Series Preview

India is back to cricket after a gap of 1 month while Sri Lanka have been playing some cricket recently. Sri Lanka started this year with a test series against Bangladesh. And then they took part in a tri-series with Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Sri Lanka toured Pakistan for 3 ODIs. SL won all of the 3 series.

India will want to maintain their dominance while the Sri Lankans will certainly be making every effort to take revenge for their 3-2 loss in the ODI series at home against India in Sep'08.

If either team wants to win, the following players are going to hold a lot of the responsibility...

India:

Virender Sehwag - Gautam Gambhir:
This opening duo has been in sparkling form and have given excellent starts most of the times. The opening stands by this pair are important for the series result to go India's way. Sachin may open the innings with Sehwag while Gambhir comes at No.3 . In any case the performance by both of these players will be important for the team.

Zaheer-Ishant :
Both these bowlers are on roll. They have made invaluable contributions in India's wins recently. They are capable of performing in any conditions and early breakthroughs by these bowlers will be important for India to win.

The middle order is strong with Dhoni, Yuvraj, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina. India are without Harbhajan which may give some advantage to Sri Lanka. It is now a good chance for Ravindra Jadeja and Ojha to prove themselves.

Sri Lanka:

Dilshan : Dilshan has been in good form in recent times and his promotion to opening slot against Pakistan worked wonders for Sri Lanka. Dilshan has been a crucial part in Sri Lanka's wins in the recent times. His innings will be an important one for Sri Lanka.

Mendis-Muralitharan : The spin duo has to strike to turn the series in Sri Lanka's favour. Most of the Indian batsmen struggled to face Mendis in India's tour to Sri Lanka last year and in Asia cup. Their attack from both the ends can worry Indian batsmen and help Sri Lanka gain some advantage. Sri Lanka is strong in spin department as India is without their main spinner Harbhajan.

The main worry for Sri Lanka is the form of their captain, Mahela Jayawardena. He did not have a great tour against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Coming to the pace bowling..Nuwan Kulasekara has been in good form..He is the No.2 bowler in ICC ODI Rankings..


I am eagerly waiting for Mendis vs Sehwag..it will be a cracker of contest....

My playing XI(India): Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Ojha, Munaf Patel.

Where is the common sense?

India have won the 3rd ODI by D/L method. It's very sad that we did not have the full match. England was very unfortunate. They set a chaseable target for India and got wickets at regular intervals. They were set back by bad light.

The toss was delayed because of the haze and overcast conditions. And we lost 45 mins before the start of the play. Finally the match was reduced to 49 overs per team. When we have lost 45 mins and you expect bad light at the end of the day, 2-3 more overs should have been deducted per innings.

And adding to this the lunch break was not shortened. A 10-15 min lunch break would have been fine in this situtaion.

In a ODI match played between England and New Zealand at Edgbaston on 18th June 2008, England's time wasting tactics cost New Zealand the match. ICC changed the rule after this match to prevent such instances.

As per the rule, the 10 minute's break will be taken only if we lose more than an hour of play. We lost 45 minutes here and the bad light was expected at the end of the day. So, why wouldn't they implement this rule and reduce the lunch break to 10 minutes?

And why didn't they make use of the flood lights?

I strongly feel that D/L method should come into play only when any further play is not possible because of rain. In situations like bad light or anything other than rain, they must make use of the flood lights.

Suresh Menon at cricinfo says 'Have a full game at any cost'.