MUMBAI: “Eight hundred and eleven runs, five centuries. Were there any bowlers around in Guwahati?”—has been trending on social media after Wednesday’s high-scoring second ODI.
“Imagine a young bowler bowling on this wicket and the opposition getting 400 and then we go on to chase 400. Because it is all one-sided affairs, even in T20 cricket, “I am not enjoying the game at all. Despite the eight-wicket win, India coach Gautam Gambhir minced no words at the end of the second ODI on a flat pitch that reduced the game to a batting show. For the records it’s outstanding, for the crowd it’s outstanding, for the broadcaster it’s outstanding. But if you ask me as a genuine cricket fan and coach…I have to have sympathy for the bowlers as well. It looks like the bowlers are going to be finished.”
“I feel there has to be a bit more contest between bat and ball, because I think you talk about cricket—this is not cricket, this is only batting,” he told the host broadcaster after the game.
“What can you say, 800 runs scored at an average of 9-10 an over? It doesn’t mean one team gets 405 runs and then gets beaten in 35 overs,” the 1983 World Cup hero said. “Even our bowlers allowed them to score 400. There was not even 10 per cent for the bowlers.
During the last IPL, at a Euro T20 League event, the first statement former pacer Zaheer Khan made was that at least playing in Europe means there will be some balance between the bat and ball. His frustration at the bowlers being taken out of the contest by the flat pitches, and the rules favouring batters, was clear. Even in the first ODI, that wicket was very good for batting. What can the bowlers do? For the organisers in India, entertainment is about fours and sixes, and hence the conditions are tailormade for batting. “Entertainment means a tight game. The other thing is the boundaries are very small.”
I think they should chuck the ball,” former India pacer and coach Madan Lal said, rather sarcastically.
