India making most of new rule

The new ODI rule of having only four players outside the 30-yard circle during non-power play overs, instead of the five earlier, has come as a boon to India’s middle-order.

Don’t agree? Look at India’s scorecard in the Kochi ODI. Three half-centuries from as many middle-order batsmen: MS Dhoni (72), Suresh Raina (55) and Ravindra Jadeja (61*). When was the last time India’s score-sheet read like this? For the record, Jadeja recorded a half-century after 25 games.

There was a time when the top-order would do all the hard work: Build an innings and set the platform for the chase. Perhaps, we’re getting into an age where the middle-order is better placed to get the job done. To cut a long story short, the game has become even more batsmen friendly (unless, of course, you are playing in seaming conditions).

With the new fielding restrictions in force, captains are finding it difficult to plug the gaps. A mistimed pull after 10 overs, which would usually find a deep square-leg fielder, now travels to the fence if no one is nailed there. If the seamers had an advantage of bowling with two new balls early last year, then batsmen now have the liberty to go for shots at will. If a spinner has a deep extra-cover, long-off, deep square-leg or a mid-wicket, he can’t have a long-on. All a set batsman has to do is comfortably clear mid-on.