The new playing condition rules laid down by the ICC left both the Indian and Australian players confused after they were selectively applied in the rain-hit first Twenty20 International in Ranchi on Saturday, despite a prior agreement to not follow them for the full tour.
Australian opener Aaron Finch said it was strange that the rules were “mixed and matched” for the T20I series, while his Indian counterpart Shikhar Dhawan too admitted of being “unaware” of the changes.
Since Australia’s tour began about 10 days before the new rules took effect on September 28, the two teams had a pre-series agreement that both the ODI and T20 matches be played as per the old set of rules to avoid ambiguity and confusion, a Cricbuzz report stated.
However, the new guidelines were in effect to some extent on Saturday and the Australian team seemed unaware of it till the message was sent out during the drinks break.
According to ICC’s new playing conditions, DRS would now be used in T20Is in addition to Tests and ODIs. The rules also state if a game is reduced to less than 10 overs, the maximum quota of overs per bowler shall not be less than two: meaning in a six overs match, three bowlers will be able to bowl two overs each.
But only Nathan Coulter-Nile bowled two overs while Jason Beherendoff, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa and Dan Christian sent down one over each during India’s chase of 48 in six overs .
“I didn’t know there was a review system until about the fifth over. Nobody did until Steve Smith mentioned it when he ran out a drink. So, we had to ask the umpires,” Finch said after the match, suggesting that the “crossover” rules didn’t make much sense.
“But it is quite strange to have a crossover of rules for this series. I mean bat sizes and things like that are coming in at the end of the series. The over situation with a shortened game — three bowlers being allowed to bowl two overs — but DRS was in for this. It didn’t have any effect on the game. I just thought it was quite odd to have mixed and matched the rules for this series,” he added.
On the other hand, Dhawan didn’t seem to know much about the rule changes, perhaps because India didn’t play a full innings.
“I’m sure they [Australia] would have felt the inconsistency. But it’s the rule afterall. I’m not exactly aware of the rule you were talking about. But, it is what it is,” he said at India’s post-match news conference.
With inputs from PTI
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