New powerplay rule seems exciting by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Event:

England in India 2008/09

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DateLine: 17th November 2008

 

Looking at the way Dhoni was reacting to the new powerplay rule one just gets the feeling that it is going to be extremely exciting. He did not commit to which side is going to get the advantage. The new powerplay suggests that batting side will be in a position to take one power play. The 50 over format needed a massive makeover considering the stiff competition it is getting from T20

Powerplay is nothing but 3 fielders needing to be outside the 30 yard circle for 5 overs and the fact that it helps in the batting team exploiting the field restrictions of the fielding side for those 5 overs. The fact that the batting team can take this opportunity from the fielding side makes this rule a killer for the fielding unit.

This sort of rule first came into vogue in the Sheffield Shield matches which are the Australian domestic tournaments. Their one day games had batting unit taking one of the powerplays and catching the fielding team completely off guard. The power play is generally taken after the fielding team takes its powerplay. The thing with this powerplay is what happens when both captains decide to delay their second powerplay. Then it can become a game of chess with each Captain or team trying to out guess the other in taking the power plays.

The first game of this series at Rajkot throws up some interesting questions. Kevin Pietersen took the second powerplay when India were going at a rapid rate. They did not assess the fact that the openers were the only players in red hot form going into this series. With Sehwag who mainly deals in fours and sixes it could have been a good idea for Pietersen to hold back his second powerplay and see what Sehwag does. That might have led to Dhoni taking the powerplay immediately for Sehwag, and Yuvraj might have struggled after the 35th over when the new ball was eventually taken and he blazed off with a back injury. The powerplay really helped Yuvraj. It gave him a license to kill and thrill and that's what he did. He scored quickly with a back injury and never looked back since that powerplay was taken. The powerplay played right into his hands. The experts were saying that Yuvraj should go and allow the big hitters like Dhoni, Pathan and Rohit to come. But Dhoni read the situation very well and after the new ball was taken at the end of 34 overs he straight away took the powerplay and the wounded Yuvraj prospered.

So this brings us to the question of which captain is going to blink first with regards to this new powerplay rules. Dhoni did not have much of a problem as the match was virtually over in England's first powerplay itself when they lost 4 wickets for 38. But even then when the batting side eventually took it between over no 34 and 38 Bopara smashed a few sixes of the Indian spinners and helped himself to a half century. Dhoni wasn't tested as he did not employ the quicks at that stage. He himself before the match felt that the new rule was extremely confusing. Observers feel that it might help the team chasing as they will know what the reqiured run rate is and to bring it down they will use the powerplay to good effect.

All said and done it is definetely a good addition to ODI cricket which is having stiff competition from T20. The 50 over format was getting mundane and there had to be some changes so as to keep the game interesting. The supersub rule which was earlier brought in 3 years back was used very well by one captain and that was Rahul Dravid. He used it to good effect and India won 16 matches chasing. But that rule was scrapped it was felt as giving unfair advantage to a particular team as it became 12 players versus 11.

Hopefully this won't be scrapped for any reason because one doesn't win matches through tosses or batting first or second. Teams win matches by using these rules shrewdly, and both teams captain and think tank would be burning the midnight oil to do just that. The first game was pretty one sided but as the series progresses one might see the rules coming into effect and the team captain who has the ability to think on the spot and take decisions in those close games might end up the winner.

Last but not the least one must congratulate Sunl Gavaskar for mooting this idea first as he was the one to introduce powerplay, supersub, and, ball change after 34 overs. He was talking about this new rule as well where the batting side has the option of choosing a powerplay for a long time. Alas he could not wait and see this development happen, as the difference of opinion with the ICC over the conflict of interest issue regarding his writing articles in newspapers about the ICC's functioning lead him to resign from the post of the chairman of ICC'S technical committee. He would be the happiest man today seeing his idea taking shape in the right direction. Hopefully this new rule will make one day cricket much more interesting than the regular mundane stuff one has come to see for a long time now.