5 Experiments in cricket that proved to be absolute duds

2. The Bowl out

Of-course, The Bowl-out! When you think of the Bowl-out, the mind goes back to that maniac September 14 night of 2007. The mind goes back to Robin Utthapa dosing his cap off in all directions after hitting bulls-eye at the Stumps; mind goes back to Umar Gul landing the bowl behind the stumps and most certainly the mind goes back to those contrasting scenes of absolute ecstasy for India and agony in equal measure for their arch-rivals.

The final scoreline read: India 3- Pakistan- 0. No! It wasn’t Soccer or Hockey; it was cricket. It was the ‘Bowl Out’. Bowl Out was a concept introduced by the ICC in 2006 to resolve a tie-breaker. The first game where the rule was implemented during a New Zealand vs West Indies game with the Kiwis winning the first-ever bowl out.

The rules of the concept were simple. Each side would nominate five bowlers, who would aim at the unprotected stumps, and whichever side dislodged them on the most occasions, will eventually win the tie-breaker. However, the rule came under immense criticism with the likes of Gautam Gambhir arguing that the said concept did not challenge the cricketing skills and is almost like a lottery. Consequently, the concept was replaced by ‘Super Over’ in 2008.

But, what if the Super Over is a tie like we had during the final of the 2019 World Cup? According to the rules, in case the Super-Over also ends in a tie, the team that had scored the most number of boundaries [fours + sixes] in the actual game. As a result of this rule, England was crowned World Champions. The boundary-count rule didn’t go down well with the folklore with fans demanding for multiple Super Overs.

While the ICC hasn’t yet addressed the issue, Cricket Australia has announced that it would employ the use of successive Super Overs to decide the winner in such scenario during its flagship T20 tournament, Big Bash League this season.