Former Indian cricket team skipper Sourav Ganguly© X (formerly Twitter)
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Friday urged the BCCI to find a way to strike a balance between bat and ball, highlighting the plight of the bowlers in the ongoing Indian Premier League on flat decks and extra batter in the form of an Impact Player. The pitches so far in the latest edition of IPL have been a batters’ paradise. With power-hitters on every side, teams have crossed the 200-run mark with ease. “Not easy for the bowlers. They are being carted all over and that’s one area that needs to be looked at in the future, the balance between bat and ball,” Ganguly said ahead of Delhi Capitals match against Mumbai Indians.
Starting from the ongoing season, the IPL governing body also allowed bowlers to deliver a maximum of two bouncers in an attempt to restore parity between batting and bowling.
Some have flagged the ‘Impact Substitute rule as one of the reasons behind the high-scoring matches imbalance as teams are now essentially playing with an extra batter which gives them the freedom to go hard at the bowlers leading to scores of 230 reaching 260-270, The Capitals have scored over 400 runs in the two games that they have played at their home venue here.
Last week at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, SRH amassed 125 runs during the powerplay. Opener Travis Head scored a blistering 16-ball fifty on his way to a sensational 89 off just 32 deliveries.
“Our batting is also strong, we have given away 400 runs but scored them too. The wicket here is too good, batting friendly wicket,” Ganguly added.
The former BCCI chief is not the only one who has expressed concern for the bowlers, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar had earlier called for bigger boundaries.
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