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Former Australia cricketer and a T20 legend Shane Watson has reacted on Big Bash League (BBL) new rules introduced by Cricket Australia (CA) for the 10th season which is all set to begin from December 10.
Watson did not look impressed with the fresh rules as he termed them as “gimmicks” and “science experiments”. The Ipswich-born opined that ‘Power Surge’, the ‘X-Factor Player’ and the ‘Bash Boost’ were unnecessary changes that made the game way too complex.
As per ‘Power Surge’, the 6-over power play has been trimmed to 4 overs. Now, the batting team can propose another 2 overs of fielding restrictions from the 11th over onwards.
CA has also rearranged the BBL’s points system. In this rule, if the chasing team are ahead of their opponents’ equivalent 10-over score, they will be given an extra point. And if that doesn’t happen, then the fielding team will get the bonus point.
Similarly, the ‘X-Factor Player’ suggests that the 12th or 13th player in the team sheet can come into the game after the 10th over of the first innings. And he can replace any player who is yet to bat or has bowled not more than one over.
Watson mentioned all this in a blog post on his T20 stars website where he wrote: “I read today that the BBL is introducing these new gimmicks, such as the ‘Power Surge’, the ‘X-Factor Player’ and the ‘Bash Boost’ in a misguided attempt to reinvigorate the tournament.”
“I just can’t seem to get my head around why there are people out there who are trying to reinvent the wheel when the wheel was not broken. The complexities that these new ‘science experiments’ are going to create for the viewers, let alone the players and coaches, when none of these have been tried and tested at lower levels, have really taken the wind out of my sails,” he added.
Focus should be on producing talent not changing rules: Watson
Watson, who recently announced retirement from all forms of the game after finishing his stint for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, reckoned that there should be a focus on getting the best talent, not in changing the rules.
“The decision to allow three overseas players to play in every team to really strengthen up the quality of the cricket during the tournament and seeing the list of world-class overseas players who are heading to our shores had been unbelievably exciting,” the 39-year-old remarked.
The former Queensland cricketer also gave an example of IPL, stating why it is the best T20 league in the world.
“In my mind, this is the sole reason why the IPL is the best T20 tournament in the world because all of the best cricketers in the world being available to play interwoven with so many Indian stars and the young Indian superstars of the future. As we saw during the IPL that has just finished, the teams were so evenly matched, which meant that you never knew who was going to win the match as well as the standard of cricket being so high.”
“The simple game plan in my mind is to get the world’s best cricketers playing on world-class pitches and guess what, you will get world-class cricket to watch for the cricket lovers out there, and we will all be on the edge of our seats admiring the feats of these amazing cricketers,” Watson wrote further.
