The sight of MS Dhoni walking onto the field to dispute the umpire’s decision during the middle of an over in the IPL last week was unfortunate and possibly unprecedented.
Yet despite his unsportsmanlike conduct, the significance of his actions during Chennai’s match against the Rajasthan Royals has hopefully woken the ICC up to a problem that’s existed for many years.
The waist-high no-ball rule has not only been policed inconsistently but it’s also debatable whether waist height makes sense as the measuring stick for whether a ball should be deemed legal or not.
Chennai’s MS Dhoni was fuming after a controversial decision last week. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
The other sad reality that the Dhoni incident clearly exposed is that the ICC hasn’t moved quickly enough to ensure umpires use the available technology to be more consistent when calling no ball or not.
This comes despite the fact that very full yorkers are often attempted during the crucial final overs of matches and the umpire’s judgement when the ball gets up near the waist can have a huge bearing on the outcome of the match.
In the case of Dhoni, until Mitchell Santner hit Rajasthan’s second-to-last ball out of the park, it seemed likely that the umpires’ failure to call no ball would cost the Chennai Super Kings two important IPL points.
Under cricket’s current regulations, no balls are meant to be called when deliveries stray over the waist height of the batsman standing upright at the popping crease.
Providing such a generous margin of error for bowlers seems to encourage bowlers to aim for yorker length but lean towards being fuller rather than shorter.
If they accidentally bowl something around knee height, it’s viewed by many bowlers as being a much better result – especially late in the innings – than missing their length the other way, resulting in a more comfortable half-volley length.
When the ball is delivered at around 150 kilometres an hour, the surprise element of the ball not bouncing and then coming straight for the batsman’s body can make the full tosses extremely difficult to hit, particularly for tail-end batsman and even specialist batsman early in their innings.
Like in CSK’s match this week, it’s become almost accepted that when the ball is delivered in the uncertain zone for umpires, they often prefer to make no decision even though their failure to call a no ball can often decide the game.
In their defence, these are difficult calls to make in real time.
However, all the more reason that the ICC should act quickly to change this law and encourage the Decision Review System to be used to support their new law.
A good start would be for them to change the height that balls are required to be delivered.
The stump height of 71 centimentres at the popping crease seems to be an appropriate level because for most batsmen that level falls quite a lot below their waist line.
The tools available to the umpires via the DRS would also make this a height that could be policed very quickly and consistently.
Dhoni’s actions last week have put the spotlight on the no ball law.
If Dhoni’s CSK team had gone on to lose their match against Rajasthan, that incident might have presented an even better example of why this law must change.
Let’s just hope it doesn’t take an inaccurate important call in the World Cup final to finally persuade world cricket’s leaders that a significant change to the no ball law is needed.
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
In a local comp, definitely get a severe suspension.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
It’s an absolute disgrace, this rule should’ve been changed years ago! It’s only right that more restrictions are placed on bowlers to ensure that batsmen can successfully hit at least 98 out of 100 deliveries for six. It isn’t fair on spectators who expect a six every second or third ball, either. There’s even some who believe the bowlers don’t mean to bowl waist height, but that’s ridiculous, they’re trying to get an advantage over a striker who isn’t required to stay in a box like baseball, but can walk at the bowler, move any distance laterally and even change to left or right as the bowler is about to let the ball go. It’s just not right that bowlers should try and counteract that. It’s time the ICC acted and made umpires more like automatons and slow the game down by checking video to see if they were a centimetre out in their split second decision. Especially as next time they may not be as lucky as this instance and a team might actually lose.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Coming on to a ground to openly question / argue with / show clear dissent to an umpire is reprehensible and could only happen in India.
JayG
Roar Rookie
Pollard tried to fling a bat at Starc and only got a fine as punishment. This transgression was not in the same vicinity. The sport has weak punishments - to insinuate that the weak punishment is because it was Dhoni is unfair
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
He should have been rubbed out for matches and have a further suspension hanging over him.
JayG
Roar Rookie
"How did he escape sanction for that clear display of dissent?" Umm...he did not? He was fined 50% of his match fees.
Pinidu Chandrasekera
Roar Rookie
The likes of Dhoni, Kohli etc receive God-like status within India, and this illusion of divinity clearly gets to their head. It’s not a good look and unhealthy for the spirit of the game - no player is, and no player ever should be bigger than the game. As long as they are placed on such a superficial pedestal by the Indian media and general public, their petulant attitudes will continue.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Umpires have always, and will continue to make mistakes. It is part of what makes this game so great. What the Dhoni action bought into the spotlight was the petulance of Indian cricket and their team as a whole. How did he escape sanction for that clear display of dissent?
Paul
Roar Guru
"Dhoni’s actions last week have put the spotlight on the no ball law." Is that really the case John? Is this any more so than Ashwins actions placing the spotlight on run outs by the bowler at the non-striker's end? This is supposed to be a rule to protect player safety. I remember Brett Lee having all sorts of issues one summer, with deliveries that were chest high or worse, hence this rule - to stop guys accidentally/deliberately bowling these sorts of deliveries. You then suggest anything over stump high should be deemed illegal? These deliveries are not difficult to play ( if below the waistline), they're difficult to hit for 4 or 6 in most cases. Why can't a bowler have this as a surprise delivery if he's good enough to bowl it, in a game totally dominated by the bat in recent years. I hope umpires apply ALL the rules on the World Cup and equally hope there is some consistency. As for this rule, it's no different than a dozen others that require a subjective decision. Leave it as is. We can't be changing the rules every time an "incident" occurs.