Fielding captain to decide striker in case of a deliberate short run

BCCI RULES

Fielding captain to decide striker in case of a deliberate short run

by Vijay Tagore • Last updated on

BCCI has introduced new rules in case of deliberate short runs © AFP

In a completely out of the box regulation, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has ruled that the rival captain will decide who will take the strike if the batter has deliberately run short. "...the captain of the fielding side to identify which of the two batters will take strike for the next delivery (sic)," the BCCI has said in a series of rule changes ahead of the domestic season.

Batters are known to run short intentionally while taking a couple so that the regular batters can retain the strike. The practice is seen often in the T20 franchise cricket, occasionally in the IPL too, when a regular batter attempts to take a short run so that he retains the strike even it is meant that one run taken off the total. There are existing rules for such an act, which leads to five penalty runs to the fielding side and possible hearing before the match referee.

But the latest ruling is that the rival captain will decide which of the batter will take the strike. However, there are no punitive measures in case the batter decides to abort a run. Says the new ruling: "A deliberate short run is an attempt for batters to appear to run more than one run, while at least one batter deliberately does not make good their ground at one end. Batters may choose to abort a run, provided the umpire believes that there was no intention by the batter concerned to deceive the umpires or to score the run in which they didn't make their ground."

Relevant rules are:

18.5.2 The bowler's end umpire shall - disallow all runs to the batting side;

* signal No ball or Wide to the scorers, if applicable; - award 5 Penalty runs to the fielding side;

- request the captain of the fielding side to identify which of the two batters will take strike for the next delivery.

* award any other 5-run Penalty that is applicable except for Penalty runs under clause 28.3 (Protective helmets belonging to the fielding side);

* inform the scorers as to the number of runs to be recorded; and - inform the captain of the fielding side and, as soon as practicable, the captain of the batting side of the reason for this action.

* The umpires together may report the occurrence as soon as possible after the match to the BCCI Match Referee.

In another rule change, the BCCI says "if a batter retires for any reason other than as in clause 25.4.2, he will be considered as dismissed immediately and will not have the option of returning to bat even with the consent of the opposite captain. His innings will be recorded as 'Retired - out'."

The above mentioned rules apply across formats.

One ball to be phased out in VHT games

The BCCI has also adopted the recent rule change by the ICC which phased out two balls in ODI cricket. After 34 overs, only one ball will be used. The move, as is well known, is to bring reverse swing into the equation. This rule will apply to the Vijay Hazare Trophy, which is a domestic 50-over competition.

Says the rule: "Each fielding team shall have two new balls for its innings to be used in alternate overs, i.e. one from each end for overs 1 to 34. At the end of over 34, the fielding team will choose one of the two balls from the innings to be used for all the remaining overs of the innings. The other ball will be added to the stock of replacement balls for the innings."

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