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Mohammad Iyad Zafar Durrani

Farhana Shahzad

SS 100

8th December 2017

Is Innovation In Cricket Bringing About a Negative Impact On The Game?

Most people are aware of the fact that soccer is the world’s most followed sport,

however, little do people realize that cricket closely follows it as the second most followed sport.

Cricket has been one of the world’s most popular sports since England played Australia in the

late nineteenth century and currently has a very strong fan base of approximately 2.5 billion

people. It plays a vital role in the lives of many individuals around the globe. Indian team

Captain Virat Kohli said to have delayed his father’s funeral for cricket, more so the recently

played final match between Pakistan and India in the Champions Trophy had a staggering

viewership of 324 million worldwide (Wigmore). Moreover, cricket has also played an important

part to diffuse political tension between Pakistan and India. In 2005 President Pervez Musharraf

of Pakistan went to see the two countries play in India and the visit to see the match turned into a

summit of sorts between the leaders of the two countries (Hussain). This goes to show the extent

to which cricket has an impact on lives. However, recently there has been a lot of resentment

towards the innovations being introduced into the game, some even argue that they will lead to

the downfall of the sport. Although innovations like the usage of the Decision Review System

(DRS) has had a detrimental impact on the game of cricket, innovations should still be

encouraged. As others like the introduction of league cricket, shorter formats and the use of

improved safety gear have changed the game for the better.
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As time passes innovations are bound to take place, let it be a sport, an organization or

any routine chore. Similarly, DRS was first introduced into cricket in 2008, following India’s

tour to Australia of 2007-8 in which almost 11 decisions went against the visiting team, inducing

The Board Of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI) to accuse the Australians of being biased

towards them. This controversy forced the International Cricket Council (ICC) to introduce the

DRS (Waris). The DRS is a system that allows teams to review the on-field umpires decision

with the use of technology if they felt the decision was unfair to them. At face value, it is seen

that cricket has benefited a lot from DRS. Overall, decisions made by the umpires have become

more accurate, and it removes the chances of the umpire being biased towards a specific team or

player. It has also been appreciated by cricket greats like Daniel Vettori, Kumar Sangakkara, and

Gary Kirsten. "I think what it has done ... is that it has increased the consistency of umpiring so I

am a fan of it…” Kirsten told Reuters (qtd. in “DRS has improved umpiring”). Moreover the Sri-

Lankan great said that it would have been interesting to see what Muttiah would have achieved if

this technology was present during his career, as umpires were not able to differentiate between

his variety of balls, thus mostly having decisions made against him (qtd. in Booth).

However, the DRS has come at a cost which greatly outweighs its benefits. The extensive

use of this facility provided to players has created a mindset that considers it alright to argue with

the umpires, and sometimes players are caught up in emotions during a match and end up getting

aggressive with the umpires if they feel the decision made was unfair. This goes against the

humble nature of cricket and the game’s label of “the gentlemen’s game”. Moreover, the

technology costs a large amount of money and not all cricket playing nations can afford it, and

even the ones who use it on an international level cannot provide the same facilities at a domestic

level. Furthermore, valuable time is used up in matches when players challenge the umpire, as
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the checking is extremely comprehensive. It also encourages batsmen and bowlers to review a

decision, hoping against hope that the original one would be overturned, even if they themselves

know the decision was a just one. In addition to that, the effectiveness of the system has also

come under doubts as players have found ways to sabotage it. A substance known as silicone

tape is used by batsmen around their bat's edges which does not allow the technology to detect a

faint edge as it prevents heat, meaning that the decision would not be right. Lastly, DRS has

taken ‘the benefit of the doubt’ for the batsman out of the game, which was for long a part of it.

“As a schoolboy in the UK, the notion of ‘the benefit of the doubt was most familiar to me…..

The use of DRS has displaced the benefit of the doubt, so the main beneficiary is now the umpire

rather than the batsman” (Berti 130). All in all, life is not fair, the most deserving may never

succeed but the least deserving might live a luxurious life. Similarly, cricket should be reflecting

more of society. It is cruel to be given out unjustly, but it is consistent with real life (Lalor).

However, other innovations have made invaluable contributions to the game. Additions

in the cricket world like the formation of domestic leagues such as the Indian Premier League

(IPL) and the Pakistan Super League (PSL) provide the game with a different aspect. Quite

naturally, these leagues also receive their fair share of criticism. Critics argue that these leagues

cause players to lose motivation of playing for their own country, as they would prefer playing

different leagues all across the world instead. Though this is not an accurate representation of

what is happening as this behavior of players is caused by the mistreatment on part of their

respective cricket boards. As West Indian star all-rounder Dwayne Bravo recently said he will

not give up contracts he currently has around the world to play for his country as he once did and

got “burned”, he gave up half of his Australian league (BBL) contract to make himself eligible
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for his team, but was not selected (qtd. in Gray). Moreover, critics also argue that as players from

opposing nations come together to play as one team, players get used to the playing styles of

their competitors and in turn reducing the effectiveness of those players in international matches.

This is true but it should not be seen as a negative, it forces players to adopt a dynamic style of

play and to improve their core techniques, which makes cricket all the more interesting to watch.

Criticism aside, these leagues have had pronounced benefits on the game. Firstly these

leagues earn a huge amount of revenue for the cricket boards, which in turn can be spent on the

development of cricket in the country. Former BCCI chief said that the IPL session of 2015

contributed 1150 crore to India’s GDP (Sen). This revenue can be used to improve the

infrastructure of the grounds currently available and to further build world-class grounds. The

improvement of infrastructure would induce more teams to tour the country for series, and as a

result earning further revenue, creating an endless cycle. More so, the revenue can be used to

improve domestic clubs and academies by making them able to hire better coaches and provide

the players with better cricketing facilities. As a result, this will improve the quality of players

coming from the grass root levels. Lastly, the players currently in the national team could be

given a higher wage, thus acting as an incentive to be more motivated to play for their country

and would help them refrain from getting involved in illegal activities that could end their

careers. Recently in a spot-fixing scandal in 2010, Pakistan lost three great assets to the team of

which two are still out of the team, which could all be avoided by improving player’s financial

statuses. To which Ramiz Raja confirmed that around 70 to 80 players in our domestic cricket

would be able to get monetary benefits from the PSL (qtd. in Yaqoob).
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Furthermore, these leagues encourage meritocracy and enhance the quality of players.

These leagues are mostly privately owned and the owners spend huge amounts of money on

contracting players, both domestic players and international. As such a huge amount is spent,

every owner strives to prepare the best team possible to enhance their chances of winning the

tournament. As a result, they cannot afford to let nepotism affect their selection. Furthermore,

young players that are selected to play for these leagues gain invaluable experience. Ex-Pakistani

captain Wasim Akram supported the PSL by saying he was excited about the PSL as it would

help both coaches and players gain immense amounts of experience besides financial benefits.

Adding on, he termed the experience the new players would gain by playing and practicing

alongside international players as “priceless” which would help them groom their playing style.

Lastly, he was optimistic about the fact that the Pakistani team would soon be getting good

players through the PSL (qtd. in Yaqoob). Along with Wasim Akram, many others have said the

same, Australian fast bowler Dirk Nannes also supported the idea from his own experience, “IPL

is a good opportunity to talk to other players. As a bowler, I am talking to batsmen. I think IPL is

a good learning experience. With people collaborating with each other at various levels, I feel it

has improved world cricket over the last few years” (qtd. in “IPL made a positive impact on

world cricket”). These results can already be seen, one example that comes to mind is that of

Shadab Khan. Who at the age eighteen first caught the eyes of the selectors in the first season of

PSL, even though at that time he was not a fully groomed cricketer, with time and influence from

playing alongside current day greats and coaching from all time cricketing legends at the PSL, he

has improved significantly. Therefore, currently at the age of only nineteen, he has made a

permanent place in the Pakistani national team.

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Recently a new format was introduced into cricket called Twenty Twenty cricket or T20

in short. It is the most recent format in cricket in which each team only gets twenty overs to bat.

This format transformed cricket completely, from five-day cricket to one day and now to as less

as twenty over. As a result it has received its fair share of undue criticism, even though

adjustments like these are necessary if the game is to survive in the long run. Critics of the

format raise concerns that the modern day batsmen, due to the influence from the T20 format,

can only play extravagant shots which is required in this short format but they lack the defensive

technique vital to preserve their wicket over long hours in test cricket. Like Mohammad Yousaf

said, “There is no doubt that Twenty20 cricket is affecting the ability of batsmen to play long

innings in Test matches” (qtd. In “The effect of Twenty20 cricket”). However, this is a faulty

argument, as stats and figures prove otherwise. This change of mentality of the batsmen started to

change a while before the introduction of T20 cricket. In the early twenty-first century many batsmen

started to follow the playing style of renowned batsmen like Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting who

were the part of the most successful side in test cricket at the time. It is seen that the average run rate

of teams in test matches a few years before the year 2000 was 2.85 and this increases to 3.28 over the

next five years, and this has stayed constant till now, even after the success and popularity of the new

format (“The effect of Twenty20 cricket”). Neither has the newest format made batsmen

technically faulty. Over the past five years, it took 987 balls for a test innings to be completed,

which is the same as in the five years before T20 cricket being introduced. Although, draws have

become less common, as only 24.4 percent of games in this decade have been drawn, compared

with 33.8 percent in tests previously. Thus proving this is just a continuation of a trend that was

present even before T20 cricket. Moreover, seven of the twenty longest fourth innings by

countries has have occurred after 2003. Hence, proving the ability of playing extravagant shots
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has not come at the cost of defensive technique, the players have only added innovative and big

hits to their repertoire of shots. ABD Villiers is the perfect example in this case, the South

African great recently played an innings of only thirty three runs in two hundred and twenty balls

to save a test match and also a century in only 31 balls in a one day match within close proximity

of each other (“The effect of Twenty20 cricket”).

One day matches have been affected greatly and the average run rate has spiked. However,

this cannot be solely blamed on T20 as a lot of other factors like changed field restrictions come to

play. More so, even if T20 was a great contributor, the increased average run rate should not be looked

at as a negative, as teams still mostly play their quota of fifty overs. As far as bowlers are concerned, it

is said that spinners have suffered the most due to T20 cricket. It is true that they have had to

dramatically change their style of bowling, however they just had to change it for the new format.

They still bowl the same line and length in test cricket. Moreover, it should be looked at as a new skill

they acquired and not as going against the nature of spin bowling, adapting to the requirements is what

differentiates cricket from most other sports played today.

Furthermore, the introduction of a shorter format was inevitable. Nowadays considering

people’s busy schedules it is very rare anyone would take five whole days out from their

schedule to watch a test match, thus to encourage people to follow cricket some changes were

bound to be made. However, there are still a lot of people who still passionately follow test

cricket, thus to cater to them nothing has been taken away from test matches, there is merely just

an addition to cricket in the form of the T20 format. Moreover, to make test cricket attractive to

the future generations, the format needed to be a bit more fast-paced, which it has become and as

a result we see many more teams trying to chase targets in the fourth innings rather than only
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trying to save the test match. The shorter format has also increased the amount of entertainment

in the game. Now a lot more shots have to be played in order to try and maximize the target a

team is setting or in order to chase a high total. Another invaluable contribution this new format

has made is that it forced an improvement in fielding. The reason behind this is that the shorter

the format gets, the smaller the margins of victory become. As a result, teams need to find ways

to restrict the number of ‘free’ runs they give away, they realized that fielding was a vital

component that they could improve to restrict the batting team to as low a score as they possibly

can. Great fielding can uplift the team morale as a whole and there is a popular saying “catches

win matches” indicating that a critical catch can totally turn the match on its head.

Lastly, the importance of constantly improving safety gear while playing cannot be

undermined. Two years ago on 27 November 2014 Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes was hit

on the back of his neck, despite wearing a helmet, he went into shock immediately and after a

while he was reported dead. The famous Australian newspaper described it as, “It was 2.23pm on

Tuesday, November 25. The 163g ball reached a speed of 135kmh before bouncing wickedly.

Hughes attempted a hook shot and the ball hit him on the neck beneath his helmet. The world

stopped.” (Benns). After this tragedy, helmet brands started adding an additional padding in the

helmets for the back of the neck. Similarly, in the early stages of cricket, people rarely wore any

protection, but now as players have learned the importance of using safety measures the people

responsible for manufacturing them have had to innovate and provide satisfactory items.

Nowadays we see batsmen, wicketkeepers and close-in fielders wearing all the available safety

gear. From fully protected helmets to pads covering most part of the body to metal plated shoes.

Batsmen especially are fond of the new safety gear, since now they can charge down the wicket

to any fast bowler without fear of the ball hitting them and causing injuries. This fearlessness has
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improved batting standards overall since the batsmen can now play freely without the element of

fear playing with their mind.

Consequently, to some extent innovations have had a detrimental impact on the game of

cricket like the introduction of the Decision Review System (DRS), as even though it results in a

better standard of umpiring it goes against the very label of cricket as the “gentlemen’s game”.

However, the benefits brought about by innovation greatly outweigh its drawbacks. As a result,

innovations should still be encouraged and accepted. As other innovations like the introduction

of league cricket has unearthed a large pool of talented young cricketers and has brought about

massive improvements in the cricketing infrastructure due to its monetary benefits. Moreover,

the introduction of shorter formats attract a much larger number of audience due to more

entertainment in a shorter amount of time, critical to the survival of the game. Lastly, the use of

improved safety gear has changed the game for the better as players can exploit their full

potential without having the fear of getting injured.

Word count: 2978

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Works cited

Berti, Daniela. Of Doubt and Proof. Ritual and Legal Practices of Judgment.

Surrey: Ashgate, 2015. Print.

Benns, Matthew. “Phillip Hughes dies: how his last day on the pitch unfolded.” Herald Sun.

28 Nov. 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2017.

Booth, Lawrence. The Shorter Wisden 2014. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. Print.

“DRS has improved umpiring – Kirsten”. ESPN cricinfo. 17 Jun. 2011. Web. 8 Dec. 2017.

Gray, James. “Why isn't Chris Gayle playing for West Indies against England?” Express.

17 Aug. 2017. Web. 8 Dec. 2017.

Hussain, Amjad. “The importance of cricket in India and Pakistan.” The Blade. 3 Jul. 2017.

Web. 8 Dec. 2017.

“IPL made a positive impact on world cricket: Nannes.” Hindustan Times. 20 Apr. 2012. Web.

8 Dec. 2017.

Lalor, Peter. “India was right: DRS is killing the spirit of cricket.” The Australian. 9 Mar. 2017.

Web. 8 Dec. 2017.

Sen, Rohan. “IPL has changed the dynamics of cricket, says BCCI boss Anurag Thakur.”

India Today. 6 Oct. 2016. Web. 8 Dec. 2017.

“The effect of Twenty20 cricket on Test matches has been much exaggerated.” The Economist.

14 Mar. 2016. Web. 8 Dec. 2017.

Waris, Sarah. “The good, bad and the ugly of Umpire Decision Review System.” Sportskeeda.

19 Jul. 2014. Web. 8 Dec 2017.

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Works cited

Wigmore, Tim. “Tremendous numbers on TV, billion or no billion.” ESPN cricinfo.

17 Jul. 2017. Web. 8 Dec. 2017.

Yaqoob, Mohammad. “PSL to benefit Pakistan cricket tremendously.” DAWN. 11 Sep. 2015.

Web. 8 Dec. 2017.