Rules have been made and remade and there is none that i can think of that has made a bowler smile. Lets analyze some of the rules in the short and shorter version of the game.
No Ball
Its a logical rule alright. Bowlers crossing the line when bowling a delivery are to be no-balled! He Needs to bowl that one again. But What about a batsmen?!! Why does he have the liberty to stand 2 foot outside the batting crease? He has the advantage early on to negate any swing that bowlers get on the kind of pitches the are being produced these days! Shouldn't they be told to stay put in the crease?
Free Hit
A No ball costs the bowler a run and an extra delivery anyway. With the advent of T-20, we saw a free hit being introduced! Common?!! What were the rule makers thinking? Where is the logic behind the rule? The last thing a batsmen requires is an assurance that he cant be given out!
Shorter Boundaries
Another nail in the coffin! In Subcontinent stadiums, you have small grounds anyway. With T-20, they decide to bring in the rope!....How many times have we seen the ball being tipped over the line! If it was in its normal position, that would have been a easy catch!
Mongoose Bat
It has power and brute force written all over it!! It was invented to make a bowler's life more miserable than it already is! A cricket ball being used must be standardized and all that, but bats can vary in their weight of wood, with the mongoose it redefines everything. With a normal bat, you see edges flying for sixes! With the mongoose, edges seem to go out of the ground!
Can the bowlers ever get a ball that has its dimensions changed?! Will they ever get a ball that holds its shine for a longer time, induces swing for a longer period! If mongoose can have different dimensions, then make the cricket ball the same way. Change its shape!
Umpiring Rules
A batsmen has the liberty to stand his ground if he thinks a catch was not taken cleanly. Umpires quickly refer that, but somehow they know that a bowler bowling at 140 Kph and hitting the pads is not out in an instant. So many times have we come across a situation where in an immediate replay on the big screen shows that he is plumb in front but there wont be a reversal! Batsmen have that insurance too!
With all these aspects in play, a bowler becomes so predictable! At the end of the day, he has just two meager weapons i.e a slower ball and a bouncer!(which again is a wide if it goes above the head). Why would anybody want to become a bowler growing up?! Moreover, they need to work more on their fitness than batsmen.
It is becoming a serious cause for concern with a bowlers cricketing life reduced! Seen the likes of Bond, Flintoff and Lee quitting test cricket to preserve their body for the shorter version only to be demoralized. Bond hasnt done anything in the IPL so far!
Players like Ishant, Sreeshanth and even Zaheer taking a hit in their rythm and the former losing pace dramatically.
Will The Rule Makers Do The Impossible?
Can they rewrite the rule books, so as to make it more unpredictable for the batsmen. Remove the wide clauses! A batsmen then will have to predict where the ball will be bowled! Why does he get to move around, play scoop shoots, hammer it dangerously back at the bowler! Gets a runner if he is injured! and a batsmen who is out comes on to "play again" Will an injured bowler ever get a replacement from another who has finished his quota of overs?
We need to rethink the rules of cricket as it is highly tilted in a batsmen's favor! Otherwise the mindset is just like what sehwag said " No matter what a bowler bowls, its there to be hit!"
