Gautam Gambhir is once again in the news. Only this time, his appointment has not brought him into the limelight. Rather, one of his statements against ICC has garnered him a lot of attention.
In ANI’s statement, Gambhir was quoted saying, “I don’t know what the spirit of cricket is because everyone plays with the right spirit of the game. I would definitely want to change (one thing), is to get rid of two new balls.”
He further said that the two new balls rule is unfair for finger spinners in white-ball cricket. According to him, this is another reason the finger spinner cannot make an impact in the game: the ball is not helping them.
Hence, he urged the ICC to amend this rule to level the playing field for all players, irrespective of their talent and style.
The new ball rule was adopted in October 2011, following the ODI World Cup. The main idea behind the same was to ensure that the ball retained its shine and that the reverse swing was minimized. This rule has resulted in the finger spinners’ impact on the game.
Gambhir has recently been linked with the Indian cricket team. The former player is more than likely to become the team’s new head coach. Given his recent success as the mentor of Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders, it will be interesting to see how he performs with the Indian team.
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