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How about deciding winner on basis of fewer wickets lost?

Former captain Bishan Bedi recalls Delhi vs Mumbai match of 1978-79 in which his team was declared victors on wicket count

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The victorious England cricket team with Britain Prime Minister Theresa May pose outside 10 Downing Street with the World Cup trophy at a reception in London on Monday
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Even two days after the electrifying World Cup final at Lord's in which one team had to emerge victorious and the other had to walk away capturing the hearts of the entire cricketing world with their demeanour, there is still sympathy for New Zealand.

Cries from the public of "ICC should have declared England and New Zealand joint winners" have not stopped. People have not stopped debating about the 'boundary count' rule that saw England lift the World Cup for the first time in four final attempts.

Even India's legendary left-arm spinner and former captain Bishan Singh Bedi was of the view that New Zealand and England should have been declared joint winners.

"My contention is ICC didn't have the gumption to declare England and New Zealand joint winners because New Zealand did more to make the game exciting, defending only 241," Bedi told DNA on Tuesday.

"ICC lost out on a huge amount of public sympathy. They would have gained so much of goodwill by announcing them joint winners," the 72-year-old Bedi, who played in the 1975 and 1979 World Cups, said. "Deciding winner on boundary count was least acceptable," he added.

Bedi's admiration for New Zealand captain Williamson has only increased. "Kane Williamson was the most outstanding captain of the entire World Cup. There was no noise, no jumping around. The entire NZ team accepted with huge grace," he said.

Such are the rules that one cannot do anything about it. Not even the two captains contesting the final.

Victorious England skipper Eoin Morgan sough an alternative when asked if the boundary count should decide a World Cup winner.

"If you could give me an alternative, I'd be able to, like compare the both. But I can't think of an alternative at the moment. The rules are obviously set out a long time ago and we have no control over them," Morgan said.

His New Zealand counterpart Williamson accepted the defeat gracefully and without any complain or displeasure or anger. He said: "The rules are there I guess, aren't they? And certainly something you don't consider going into the match that maybe if we could have an extra boundary and then tied two attempts at winning it we will get across the line and they didn't think that either. No-one probably thought they would have to sort of result to some of that stuff. But yeah, very tough to swallow."


(May has a lighter moment with Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali and Liam Plunkett -Reuters)

Why not winner on fewer wickets lost?

The 'boundary count' rule used to declare England winners yet again proves that the game is heavily loaded in favour of the batsmen and reduces the bowlers as mere participants with not much importance given to their skills, especially wicket-taking abilities.

An ideal and acceptable conclusion to decide the winner under the circumstances as the World Cup final in which the scores were level at the end of 100 overs and also in Super Over would have been to decide the winner on the basis of fewer wickets lost.

After all, cricket is primarily a contest between bat and ball, scoring runs and taking wickets. A winner is decided on the basis of a team surpassing the opponent's total or falling short. So, when there is little to chose between teams finishing with the same score, the next best alternative would have been to decide on the team that has lost fewer wickets.

If that had been applied, New Zealand would have lifted the Cup, for they lost 8 wickets as against England's all 10.

But, ICC has taken this out of the equation, demoralising the efforts of the bowlers. Shouldn't the New Zealanders' efforts of taking two extra England wickets, or their batsmen defending their wickets and not being all out, be recognised?

But, nobody seems to care for the bowlers, who are, from the time the game began, are reduced to working class, putting in the hard yards, running day in and day out rolling their arms over. As Bedi said: "It has always been a batsman's game. Bowlers are not given due credit. It is the bowlers who win you matches by taking wickets, don't they?"

So true.



(Bishan Singh Bedi)

ODIs in past decided on wicket count 

Now, it is not that the 'fewer wickets' rule has not been tried. There are at least two ODIs, both involving Pakistan, that were decided on fewer wickets.

On their 1986-87 tour of India, the hosts' only win of the six-match series came by way of losing fewer wickets after the match in March ended in a tie at Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad, India posting 212/6 in 44 overs and Pakistan scoring the same number of runs losing 7 wickets.

In October the same year, Pakistan beat Australia in Lahore after the teams were level on scores – 229 in 45 overs – but the hosts won by losing one less wicket, 7 as against Australia's 8.

Bedi himself was a winner on this basis on one such occasion, though in the domestic front. In the Wills Trophy (limited-overs tournament in those days), the Bedi-led Delhi were declared winners after the scores were level in the final against Bombay (as Mumbai was then called).

Bedi remembered that match clearly: "When one day cricket was not in vogue, it was the Wills Trophy Delhi vs Bombay at the Wankhede. I was captaining Delhi and Bombay led by Ashok Mankad. The match went pretty late into the day and ended in a tie. Since we had lost fewer wickets, we won. That was long time ago."

The match in question was in the final of the 1978-79 season, a 60-over-a-side affair that had the stars in both the sides. Bombay batted first and were all out for 253 in 56.1 overs. Delhi replied with 253/7 in 60 overs.

High time the game is lent balance and bowlers are recognised for their efforts, especially in case of tie.

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