'Reverse swing at its best' - Ravi Ashwin reacts to Wasim Akram's magical deliveries

India’s premier spinner Ravi Ashwin was bewildered and left awe-struck by former swing king Wasim Akram’s bowling as he commented on a video of him bowling with the old ball in an ODI match against New Zealand.

Akram, who was renowned for his swing would change the complexion of the game within a span of one or two overs. His most iconic spell was undoubtedly the game-changing spell in the World Cup final encounter against England in the year 1992 when he struck consecutive balls and swung the match decisively in favour of Pakistan. Named as ‘The Sultan of Swing’, Akram was again at it this time in the 44^th over of the match to which Ashwin pointed out the white ball doesn’t reverse swing like that now.

“Hello, white ball!! Where are you these days?? That’s the 44th over and reverse swing at its best from the king @wasimakramlive,” wrote Ashwin.

Here is Ravi Ashwin’s post for Wasim Akram

Hello white ball 💭💭!! Where are you these days?? That’s the 44 th over and reverse swing at it’s best from the king @wasimakramlive 👏👏 https://t.co/PcgXEtOkwj

— Mask up and take your vaccine🙏🙏🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) May 15, 2021

International Cricket Council (ICC) changed the rule in the year 2011 and two new balls are now used in the ODIs which makes it harder for the bowlers to reverse swing. Not impressed by the rule, legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar and Waqar Younis voiced their opinion on the same in the year 2018.

The rule had an immediate impact on the bowlers who would swing the ball both ways like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Parveen Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, and other notable swing bowlers who went on to trouble the batters with the swing. With a change in a ball every 25 overs, it ruled out the possibility of swing bowlers in ODI cricket.

Also, the run-scoring has predominantly increased since the rule change came into prominence in the year 2011. Earlier a total in excess of 200 to 250 was a match-winning one, but now especially in the last four to five years, the teams have scored more in excess of 320.

Conditions in England do offer help for swing bowlers, but that is more often seen in the longer format where the red cherry aids the swing bowlers more. It would be interesting to see if ICC goes back to the old rule and make swing prominent in the ODIs.