ICC’s plan to remove toss a harm to a century-old tradition of cricket, feel Dilip Vengsarkar and Bishan Bedi
Dilip Vengsarkar and Bishan Singh Bedi have criticised the ICC's plan to remove the toss system from Test Cricket as it gives the home side a massive advantage in Test cricket. Both former Indian players believe that by doing so it will break the 140 years old tradition of cricket.
A newly-formed committee of the ICC, one that includes ex-international cricketers and coaches, elite panel umpires and match-referees, is debating over the idea about the removal of the 'toss' system in Test cricket. If ICC becomes successful in doing so, the game's global governing body will break the century-old tradition of the game, for the sake of protecting the five-day format. The board even ready to sacrifice the cost of Test cricket's conventional way of proceedings.
With the introduction of the proposed Test Championship in the new Future Tours Program (FTP) cycle starting post-2019 ICC World Cup, the committee headed by former India captain Anil Kumble will talk over whether the toss should be removed or not in an attempt to reduce home advantage by the host team. The report which circulated ahead of the ICC's cricket committee meeting has suggested that the concern comes because of home team’s tampering over pitch preparation. Hence, the toss should be awarded to the visiting team and it depends upon them whether they want to bowl or bat.
"There is (serious) concern about the current level of home team interference in Test pitch preparation, and more than one committee member believes that the toss should be automatically awarded to the visiting team in each match, although there are some others on the committee who do not share that view," says the report, as published by Cricbuzz.
Largely criticising the move, former India captain Bishen Singh Bedi criticized the panel members for thinking of doing away with the toss would be key in the survival of Test cricket. The former spinner questioned that what is the need of tinkering with a century-old tradition.
"Do away with the toss and? You know what... I really don't understand this. I'm actually at a loss to make any sense. First of all, why would you even want to tinker with a century-long tradition?" observed Bedi.
Former Test batsman Dilip Vengsarkar, giving his insights on the debate, stated that so many things have changed in cricket and it will continue to do so with time but why should we fiddle with something which has been always there from the very beginning.
"As it is, a lot of interfering has already happened with the game of cricket, in terms of how it was played and where things stand today. Why not leave alone some things that have stood the test of time?" said Vengsarkar.
"If this is only about home team's interference in pitch preparation, then just introduce neutral curators. Have a panel of neutral curators just the way the ICC has an elite panel of umpires and match referees. Why
As per what the ICC's cricket committee members suggest, winning the toss allows a home team to take a call based on conditions familiar to them and helps them to catch the early momentum in the game. If a home team has a good batting side suiting the conditions, it wins the toss and bats first. The ICC committee will meet in Mumbai on May 28 & 29 to further debate on this topic.
Once the ICC's new Test championship starts with the new Future Tours Program (FTP) cycle beginning in 2019, the visiting team may not have a say in the hosting of a Day-Night Test. A discussion on these lines is expected when the cricket committee of the ICC meets in Mumbai on May 28 and 29. The BCCI and the Indian team management had recently said 'no' to Cricket Australia's (CA) request for a Day & Night Test in Adelaide later this year.
Under the new regulations waiting to be discussed, the decision to host a D/N Test will be at the discretion of the home board. The agreement of the touring team will be required only if the host board wants to play more than one D/N game in a series.
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