Rohit Sharma in favour of early starts at 2023 World Cup
Cricket
Rohit Sharma in favour of early starts at 2023 World Cup
LAHORE (Web Desk) – India captain Rohit Sharma has spoken in favor of moving the matches of the 2023 World Cup to an earlier time in order to counter the dew factor.
He believes that the dew factor during day-night matches gives an unfair advantage to the team batting second. He argues that as the games usually start in the afternoon and end around 9-10 pm, it becomes harder for the team fielding to keep the ball dry, making it easier for the batting team to score runs. He suggests that moving the matches to an earlier time would eliminate this advantage
“I mean, it [having an early start] is a good idea because it’s a World Cup, right?” Rohit said as per ESPNCricinfo.
“You don’t want to compromise too much on the toss factor and you want to take that [advantage] completely away. I like that idea of an early start, but I don’t know.
If it’s possible, the broadcasters will decide what time the game should start. But ideally, you don’t want that sort of advantage in the game. You want to see good cricket being played without one side having the advantage of batting under lights with the dew. But those are the things that are not in your control. But I like the idea of an early start.”
In a recent match, India’s cricket team took the dew factor into consideration during the first ODI against Sri Lanka. To counter the difficulty caused by the dew in the second innings, they batted at a fast pace and scored a high total of 373 runs. The team strategy to get a big score before the dew started to fall, which was a successful one.
At the end of the game, R Ashwin recommended the stakeholders to have an early start for the World Cup and said it won’t have any impact on the viewership because of the opportunity cost - which is an upper hand for the team batting second under lights.
“The quality difference between the teams isn’t coming through," Ashwin said. "Dew is narrowing that gap if you happen to lose the toss. My suggestion - or rather my opinion - for the World Cup is to look at what venues we are playing in, and at what times. Why shouldn’t we start matches at 11.30am during the World Cup? Won’t all cricket fans prioritise the World Cup and watch matches at 11.30?”
Tom Latham said dew remains a problem at many venues after the match at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. He added that adapting to conditions is important while playing international cricket and that dealing with different conditions is part of the job.
“I haven’t given a huge amount of thought to the change of match timings, but I think you see around the world at night time in different conditions where the ball does dew up or the ground does dew up,” Latham said. “And sometimes it can get hard to hold onto the ball and it does get a little bit slippery, but that’s something we’re presented with in international cricket where you’ve got to be able to be flexible to bowl with the wet ball or field in those conditions. You got to ride with whatever conditions you’re faced with and that’s adapting to the conditions as best as possible.”
