Batting-friendly rules in the game of cricket have often been criticised pretty vehemently. Many former cricketers and experts have suggested multiple changes to be made in order to bring equilibrium into the game and make things a little favourable for the bowlers as well.
Now, former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has opened up on this issue. Akhtar feels that if there were three reviews in earlier times then Sachin Tendulkar “would have made 1 lakh runs.”
Akhtar's words
“You have two new balls. You have made the rules stricter. You give so much leverage to batsmen nowadays. You now allow three reviews. If we had three reviews during the time of Sachin, he would have made 1 lakh runs!” Akhtar said on his official YouTube channel.
The 46-year-old former pacer did not stop there. Akhtar called Sachin “a very tough batsman” and said he pitied him for playing against a lot of prolific fast bowlers.
“I really pity him. The reason I pity Sachin is he initially played against Wasim (Akram) and Waqar (Younis), he played against Shane Warne, then he faced (Brett) Lee and Shoaib (Akhtar), and later he played the next generation of fast bowlers. That's why I call him a very tough batsman.
“It's very batting-oriented cricket nowadays. Earlier, as a batsman, even you would enjoy fast bowlers approaching you with hair flying, bowling bouncers,” Akhtar explained.
Shastri's suggestions
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, during his conversation with Akhtar, proposed some changes to bring a balance. Shastri feels that a bowler should be allowed to bowl more than two bouncers in an over.
“If you've to balance, you shouldn't restrict an over to 2 bouncers. Increase them. The reason why I say this is because it's exciting,” Shastri said.
“The volume (is also a factor). There was no T20 cricket at our time. There were 12-13-14 Test matches a year. Bowlers used to be fitter. If the same bowler is playing all three formats this time, what you expect out of him in actual red-ball format will not be the same. He will perform for one or two or three years, but then he will be out of petrol,” the former India head coach added.
