Sunil Gavaskar calls for major cricket rule change, reaches out to Sourav Ganguly

India batting great Sunil Gavaskar has called on former India captain Sourav Ganguly to push for a major rule change in cricket, urging the ICC to give fast bowlers more leeway in the interpretation of wide bouncers.

Ganguly, who currently chairs the ICC Men’s Cricket Committee, was specifically urged by Gavaskar to raise the matter during the panel’s next meeting as concerns continue to grow over the balance between bat and ball in modern cricket.

Writing in his column for Sportstar, Gavaskar said bowlers are increasingly being “short-changed” in an era dominated by batters, pointing to shorter boundaries, powerful bats and stricter fielding rules that have heavily tilted the game in favour of batting units, particularly in T20 cricket.

“There’s the ‘wide ball’ call for a bouncer going barely over the batter’s head. This is like asking a fast bowler to bowl with one hand tied behind his back. C’mon, give him some leeway. After all, with boundary lengths being shortened even though there’s enough space to push them back, the bowlers are being short-changed, and now, with this interpretation where the ball is called a wide if it goes above the batter’s head in his normal stance, the quickies are being handicapped even more,” Gavaskar wrote.

The former India captain suggested that the ICC tweak the existing rule to allow pacers a margin of around one foot above the batter’s head before a delivery is deemed a wide.

“If that rule can be tweaked to allow the quick a margin of one foot, approximately the length of the bat handle, above the head while in his batting stance, that would give the fast bowler some relief and encouragement to fire in some more,” he added.

Gavaskar also recalled his tenure as chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee, when members agreed to reintroduce the bouncer in limited-overs cricket in a bid to restore some balance to the contest.

“When I took over as Chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee, the other members joined me in bringing the bouncer back in the format, albeit one per over per batsman. The pinch-hitters disappeared. More importantly, the bowlers got one of their weapons back. You don’t restrict a batter from playing any shot, do you? So why restrict the bowlers from trying all the varieties that they possess? That’s why there is a case to give the speedsters a little more leeway as far as the definition of the wide bouncer is concerned,” Gavaskar wrote.

The batting legend said quality batters should still be capable of handling deliveries that rise slightly above head height.

“A good batter should be able to score off a bouncer, which is about a bat handle’s height above his normal stance. That might even up the battle slightly in a format where, more often than not, even the best fast bowlers in the game are in for a hiding. So, c’mon Sourav Ganguly, when you chair the next ICC Cricket Committee meeting, spare a thought for the bowling fraternity too,” he added.

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