5 New rules that can make Test cricket more interesting

2. Leg-side wides

Apart from the introduction of free hits, Test cricket can take another leaf out of the book of white-ball formats and that is with the rule of the ball going down the leg side. In white-ball cricket, the margin of error for the bowler is very low. Any ball which goes down the leg-side or even slightly to the right side of the leg stump, a wide ball is called.

However, in red-ball cricket, the margins are different. The wide line down the leg side increases insignificantly and we hardly ever see umpires calls down the leg side deliveries as wide. This is not something that hurts the batter in a significant way but one can only think that it could potentially add some more runs and hence prevent bowlers from bowling down the leg-side frequently. 

There have been several bowlers who have even targeted batsmen with short pitch bowling trying to bowl down the leg side. Now, it is quite obvious, if they had a fear of wides being called. Plus, the strategy of sticking on that line is also that more often than not, we will see people bowling dangerous bouncers, which can in turn hurt the batsmen.