Seven reasons why scoring 300s has become extremely easy in ODI cricket

Seven reasons why scoring 300s has become extremely easy in ODI cricket: Let me start it like the old fashioned stories, So ‘once upon a time getting past the 300 runs mark was considered a massive landmark in ODI Cricket and reaching there almost guaranteed a victory.’ It was not something which happened ages ago but it certainly seems like it. Imagine an ODI today is termed low scoring contest if the target is 260 or 270. Things have changed considerably now and as the game has leapfrog in the past 2-3 years, Eighteen times the figure of 300 has been crossed in the last year’s ICC Cricket World Cup and thrice the teams have reached the illustrious 400 run mark. Here are the seven reasons why reaching 300 has become so frequent in the modern day cricket. 1. Change in fielding rules: Rossouw just gives himself some room (© Getty Images) Change in the fielding rules is the most pertinent reason why totals have gone up drastically, earlier there used to be 5 fielders outside the 30 yard circle in the non power play over’s. But now a captain is allowed to only have four, reduction in one fielder has meant there is ample space on the ground which isn’t guarded by fielders. These open spaces have been fully exploited by the batsman as they have maneuvered the field excellently by hitting a boundary at will in death over’s. 2. Advent of T20 cricket: Players like Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell is a ramification of T20 cricket. (© Getty Images) The audacious hitting and outrageous shots we see from the players like Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell is a ramification of T20 cricket, the advent of it has made 280-300 par score on most pitches and the required rate of 9-10 Per over is very feasible for the chasing side these days in 50 over’s cricket as well. 3. Two new balls: Opener Shikhar Dhawan had been in sublime touch for India along with a strong middle order. (Photo Source: BCCI) ICC brought the rule of new balls from either end to trim down the gap between the ball and bat in the game but this move has rather proved to be a blessing in disguise for the batsmen, batsmen have now become cannier and they prudently negotiate the new ball without any flashy stroke as they know they can utilize the advantage of comparatively harder ball in the slog over’s. Around the 36th over (batting power play) when the batting team starts to up the ante the ball still comes on quite nicely onto the bat as it is an 18 over’s old ball. 4. Better Bats: The bats used in modern day cricket are prepared with various parameters in consideration and thus making them very effective. (Photo Source: Twitter) The quality of the cricket bat has significantly improved in the past few years as even the top edges at times flow for six, earlier the sweet spot in the bat used to be only in the center part of the bat but that has changed now, the sweet part is also present in the lower part of the bat which makes hitting easier. The bats are designed with the use of aerodynamics and the blade is designed in a manner to cut as less air as possible on its way down to help improve the bat speed. There is lot more meat in the core of the bat and less in other areas, which makes it lighter and compact to heave those big blows. 5. Slump in the quality of bowlers: Bowlers were expected to make lives difficult for the batters but nothing of that sort has actually happened. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Compare the bowlers of 1990’s and early 2000’s with the current generation and you would find out the difference between them is drastic. The previous generation of bowlers were more crafty, the likes of Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath, Waqar Younis , Brett Lee, Alan Donald ,Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, Anil Kumble had one thing in common, may what be the situation of the game, they always looked to attack the batsmen the most and rather than containing had the wicket taking approach; the current generation lacks this quality and are satisfied being misers and not wicket takers. 6. Flat Pitches around the world: Scoring double centuries in ODI cricket has become possible only because of better batting wickets. (Photo Source:ICC) Be it Australia, England, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka or South Africa pitches all around the world have become flat now, clear instructions are given to the curators by their boards to make flat pitches as viewers enjoy high scoring matches, low scoring matches are considered sluggish and dull and they do not generate the same TRP as the high scoring ones do. Also when a match is viewed all throughout the 100 over’s they have a better scope of generating more revenue through it than a game which wraps up in 40 or 50 over’s both ways. 7. Smaller Grounds: Some of the grounds are so small and with such quick outfields that even miss timed shots make the distance. (© Getty Images) There was a time when hitting sixes meant the batsman was in irrepressible form as clearing the grounds wasn’t easy, but in the recent past grounds men have brought the boundary inside substantially which has made hitting sixes much easier, we have seen on numerous occasion that even a miss-hit has gone for the maximum. There is no standardization as far as the length of the boundaries is concerned and at one part of the world (Australia) the grounds are massive with ropes being at 90 meters from the pitch and in another (New Zealand) they are somewhere around 60 or 65 meters. Quick Link : List of Indian batsmen quickest to 4000 runs in ODI (by innings)