Can the umpires change a wet ball affected by dew on their own? R Ashwin has triggered an interesting debate after Rajasthan Royals’s game against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk. Since there was heavy dew around, the umpires intervened and changed the ball during the chase, and though Ashwin and his team benefited by that decision, he says he was left a “bit flummoxed”.
“I’m quite surprised the umpires changed the ball for dew on their own. It’s never happened before and I’m quite surprised. Some of the decisions in this year’s IPL on the field have left me a little flummoxed to be honest. I mean, it’s just the middle — left me flummoxed in a good or a bad way. It’s because I think what you need is a little bit of balance,” Ashwin, who had figures of 4-0-25-2 and walked away with the Man of the Match award said at the post-match press conference.
Ashwin wants consistency in its implementation. “As a bowling team, we are not asking for the ball to be changed. But the ball was changed on the umpire’s accord. I did ask the umpire and he said we can change it. So I just hope every time there is dew they can change it every single time going forward in this IPL that sort of, you can do whatever you want, but you just need to be in a standard going forward,” Ashwin said.
Chennai were caught off guard with the replacement of the wet ball and on a slow pitch that took turn, their batsmen found to get going in the middle-overs. Every time a new batsman walked in, it was evident that they were struggling to find timing on the pitch and Rajasthan kept chipping away with key wickets as the asking rate mounted.
What do rules say about dew affecting ball change?
The answer to the umpiring question is yes they can change the ball on their own. In playing conditions of most tournaments, not just IPL but even in domestic tournaments, the umpires can make that decision. They don’t have to wait for a fielding team to complain.
“In the event of the ball becoming wet and soggy as a result of play continuing in inclement weather or it being affected by dew, or a white ball becoming significantly discoloured the opinion of the umpires becoming unfit for play, the ball may be replaced for a ball that has similar amount of wear even though it has not gone out of shape,” reads the playing conditions for domestic games in India.
The IPL’s playing conditions too are pretty similar. “If, during play, the ball cannot be found or recovered or the umpires agree that it has become unfit for play through normal use, the umpires shall replace it with a ball which has had wear comparable with that which the previous ball had received before the need for its replacement.”
Even before the tournament began, Ashwin had mentioned on his YouTube channel how dew could be a huge factor for Chennai Super Kings’s home matches at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. With a stadium undergoing a revamp and cross ventilation in place due to gaps between stands, Ashwin had feared the sea breeze could end up bringing more dew on to the outfield.
Although there was no dew for Chennai’s opening match against Lucknow Super Giants last week, the story was different on Wednesday evening for their game against Rajasthan Royals. Aware that Rajasthan could end up playing three spinners, the Super Kings wanted to make the most out of the wet outfield conditions by choosing to chase. And when Rajasthan ended up with 175/8, it definitely looked 15-20 runs short of par total, particularly because dew was beginning to settle in by the end of the innings.
During the mid-innings break, the groundstaff used ropes to reduce the impact of the dew, but by the seventh over of the chase, it was quite evident that spinners were finding it difficult to grip the ball. the legspinner Adam Zampa, who came on as an Impact Player was seen using his towel to wipe the ball. As visuals of the Buggy camera wheels soaked in dew was displayed on screen, there were some grim faces in the Rajasthan dugout.
However, twice through the course of the second innings, umpires stepped in to change the wet ball, which meant the dew didn’t neutralise Rajasthan’s strong point with the ball – the spinners. R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal did a commendable job to choke the Super Kings batting line-up and even though Zampa went for runs, he too chipped in with the key wicket of Moeen Ali.
What’s Ashwin’s secret recipe this IPL?
For Ashwin, it was a perfect homecoming. Bowling against a team that had four left-handers in the top seven, Ashwin once again starred. After conceding 10 runs in his first over – bowled in the powerplay – his second and third overs, where he picked up the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube, put Rajasthan on top as Chennai lost their hold at a crucial juncture.
In the four matches he has played so far, Ashwin has been economical; the highest runs he has conceded has been the 27 runs from four overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
“I’m just enjoying the way I’m bowling and I’m not giving it too much thought. For someone like me who bowls in different phases of the game I have to be prepared to bowl different lengths, different speeds and different trajectories. So I think what I’ve realised is even Sanjay (Manjrekar) asked me ‘are you keeping it a lot more simple?’ You keep it simple only when you attain a certain amount of mastery over things I feel. I think I probably gauge things and deliver what I think is the best for that situation. So for me at the moment, I’m just really enjoying my bowling and I’m looking at deceiving the batsman a lot more in the flight. That’s because of where I find myself with bowling,” Ashwin added.
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