My Second Wind

As if on cue to my r ecent blog post on ICC rules that are crying for change , we witnessed one more farcical ICC rule at play in the most decorated match played in 2019, yes the world cup final, and it significantly upped the luck factor for one of the teams involved in the well contested battle. I do not have a problem with the rule where the match gets decided by the most number of boundaries scored by a team even if after the super over the score remains a tie, which was the case for this match.  We need something to break the tie and this is one way where ICC chose to reward the team which played more bold and entertaining cricket. Rightly so, England, amidst muted celebrations lifted the much coveted trophy that they so badly wanted. If they so badly wanted it, then why were the celebrations so muted? Well I guess possibly because England felt guilty being awarded 4 extra runs for an overthrow during the last over.  Not that they could not have won otherwise, bu...

Sports, in general, has its share of luck. For cricket however, the impact of the so called “luck” is profound. We all think it is a level playing field for both the teams, but we reasonably know well that it is not! The Toss, the conditions of the pitch, the weather, the rain, when the rain comes, algorithms to determine what’s the target for a curtailed game, the mood of the umpires and these factors(luck) that influence the game just goes on and on. Here are 4 changes (3 simple, 1 a bit more complex) suggested that can reduce the "Luck" factor in the game. This blog outlines  four strategic recommendations  aimed at reducing the influence of  luck and unfairness  in professional cricket. I first take a hard look at the  Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method , proposing a more flexible system of  multiple targets  to better reflect match situations during rain delays. Another suggestion involves using technology to  halve the runs  awarded for...