On Thursday afternoon, India and Australia will face off at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru for the fourth One Day International. The same day, International Cricket Council's new playing rules will come into force. Though it will not be reflected in the fourth ODI between India and Australia, bilateral series where South Africa take on Bangladesh, and Pakistan lock horn with Sri Lanka, will be played under the new conditions suggested by the ICC's Cricket Committee.
The ICC Cricket Committee was headed by spin legend and former India skipper Anil Kumble. The DRS will now also be used in all Twenty20 international matches.
Batsmen have been preparing for these changes for some time now. The bat sizes have already been altered, the new ones with altered width and edges already put to use.
Given the shrinking boundaries and a general call to restore a balance between the bat and the ball, the ICC has restricted the size of bat edges as well as their thickness. The length and width of the bats remain unchanged, but the thickness of the edges can’t be more than 40mm and the overall depth can be 67mm at most. Umpires will be issued a new bat gauge.
Perhaps, the biggest change in rules comes by way of empowering on field umpires to curb player behaviour. Till now, all the umpires could do was cool off a heated situation between players from opposing teams during a match and later report the incident if required. Now, umpires get the power to “punish” players and teams on the ground itself during play time (for level 4 offences). The umpires can reward five runs to the opposite team in the case of excessive appealing. They can even send off a player for a limited time or remainder of the game as deemed fit. The level 1 to 3 offences will continue to be dealt with under the ICC Code of Conduct.
Giving details of what constitutes serious misconduct on field, the ICC has outlined the following: "Threatening to assault an umpire, making inappropriate and deliberate physical contact with an umpire, physically assaulting a player or any other person and committing any other act of violence all constitute level 4 offences".
However, cricket, always described as the “gentleman's game”, will not use coloured cards to send off players—as in football or field hockey.
Changes have also been made to the DRS rule—no more top ups of reviews after 80 overs in an innings for teams. This means a team will have only two unsuccessful reviews in one entire one innings of a Test match.
The run-out and stumping rule has also been tweaked. As per new rule, “if a batsman is running or diving towards the crease with forward momentum, and has grounded his/her bat behind the popping crease but subsequently has lost contact with the ground at the time of the wickets being put down, the batsman will not be run out. The same interpretation will apply for a batsman trying to regain his/her ground to avoid being stumped.”
For boundary catches, airborne fielders making their first contact with the ball will need to have taken off from within the boundary, otherwise a boundary will be scored.