New Delhi: The former Indian cricketer, Gautam Gambhir has heavily criticized the use of two new balls in One-Day International (ODI) cricket.
Now a mentor for Kolkata Knight Riders team at IPL, Gambhir maintained that this rule is fundamentally against finger spinners by pointing out the absence of any renowned spinner like Nathan Lyon and Ravichandran Ashwin in ODI teams despite their excellent performance in test cricket where each possesses over 400 wickets.
“Two new balls in one-day cricket is probably the worst thing that can happen to one-day cricket. Can you imagine how many finger spinners play one-day cricket? There’s Nathan Lyon who’s got 400 wickets, there’s R Ashwin who’s got 400 wickets, and they are not a part of the One Day team, and the only reason is that there is nothing for a finger spinner,” Gambhir emphasized on an episode of ‘180 Not Out’ a recent podcast series.
He further argued that this law reduces the effectiveness of bowling finger spinners saying “Can you imagine someone who has taken 400 Test wickets will not play one day cricket because they don’t become a wicket-taking option or they end up becoming a defensive option?”
Another problem highlighted by Gambhir was that ball reversal had been affected significantly as it used to be an important skill set for fast bowlers but with these rules it had almost vanished.
“Reverse swing…It has gone out of the game completely. I want to see reverse swing, I want to see batters getting challenged, and someone bowling at 150 and reversing the ball is always a challenge,” he said
Gambhir also wanted going back to using just one ball throughout a whole inning which would allow wear and tear hence bringing back reverse swing with more spinners having influence on games.
“One rule that needs to change is getting rid of two new balls and having only one,” the former Indian international insisted.
