Quality of limited-overs game has gone down enormously, opines Dilip Doshi
Dilip Doshi is of the opinion that the quality of limited-overs cricket has gone down drastically thanks to heavier bats and shorter grounds. He has also added that to bring sanity back to the shortest format, a bowler should be allowed to bowl 10 overs just like a batsman can bat for 20 overs.
A bowler whose immaculate flight and control made him one of the most respected left-arm spinners in English county cricket, Dilip Doshi couldn't play a lot of matches for India, simply because of the presence of Bishan Singh Bedi in Indian cricket. When Doshi broke through, he was effective on even the most placid tracks and became Kapil Dev's Man Friday.
His presence in the limited-overs set-up was a fantastic one, which has put him in a definitive vantage point to analyse where the game has reached. Doshi, in an interview with Sportstar, let his guard down and stated that the quality of the limited-overs game has gone down enormously, emphasising on the last word.
"Now, the main difference I see is that while the shorter version of the game has been defined more commercially, the quality of the game has gone down enormously. I wouldn’t say even a little bit. From what angle, I’ll tell you. Today, the bats are heavier, the grounds are shorter. The physical attribute of every cricketer is different because he does the weight training and all other kinds of fitness and strength training," Doshi told Sportstar.
"The sweet spot of the bat appears to be all around, rather in the middle. The edge of the bat is almost one third the size of the middle, if not more. So, all this contributes to a different kind of approach to the game. It is a heavily batsmen-oriented game and most of the fans want to go and see the runs being scored, the bowler being hit all across the park."
While bowlers are now becoming the submissive entity in the 20-over format, the batsmen have taken over. So many people have brought so many suggestions but Doshi seems a bit radical for that. The former Gujarat-born Bengal bowler added that a bowler should be allowed to bowl 10 overs in T20 cricket just like a batsman is allowed to bat for 20 overs.
"I just feel that like a batsman is allowed to bat for full quota of 20 overs, a bowler should also be allowed to bowl 10 overs in a T20 fixture. There should be no restriction on the bowlers, except that four bowlers have to be bowled minimum if not five. That will balance the game much better than it is now," he added.