India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Tuesday took to Twitter and suggested that the authorities bring in a major rule change that stops a non-striker from leaving the crease before the bowler has released the ball. Ashwin's reaction came a day after the ICC announced that TV umpires will call the front-foot no-balls in all the ODIs which are part of ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League. The off-spinner even suggested a couple of ways to restore the parity between the bat and ball by disallowing the runs scored by the batsmen if he leaves his crease before the ball is bowled.
"Just hope that technology will see if a batsmen is backing up before the bowler bowls a ball and disallow the runs of that ball every time the batter does so!! Thus, parity will be restored as far as the front line is concerned. #noball #dontbackup," tweeted Ashwin.
Explaining the rationale behind his thinking, Ashwin wrote that current regulation does a grave injustice to the bowler in a game which hugely favours a batsman and it can cost a bowler some extra runs during a match which can eventually play a crucial part in determining the game's outcome.
"Many of you will not be able to see the grave disaparity here, so let me take some time out to clarify to the best of my abilities. If the non striker backs up 2 feet and manages to come back for a 2, he will put the same batsmen on strike for the next ball," explained Ashwin.
"Putting the same batsmen on strike might cost me a 4 or a 6 from the next ball and eventually cost me 7 more runs instead of may be a 1 and a dot ball possibility at a different batsmen. The same will mean massively for a batter wanting to get off strike even in a test match," he added.
Ashwin was involved in a major controversy during IPL last year when he clipped the bails at the non-striker's end after Rajasthan Royals' Jos Buttler tried to steal some yards by backing up too much.
Ashwin, who will be playing for Delhi Capitals in this year's IPL, argued that it just about the right time to restore the balance between the bat and ball as it has become "increasingly tough environment for the bowlers".
"It is time to restore the balance in what is an increasingly tough environement for the bowlers. #thefrontcrease #belongs to #bothparties @bhogleharsha we can use the same tech that we are proposing for a no ball check 120 balls in a T 20 game," Ashwin wrote on Twitter.
When a Twitter user presented a counter-argument to Ashwin's suggestion, the off-spinner quickly made another way out, suggesting a free ball for the bowler on the very next ball every time the non-striker has backed up.
"Instead of Disallowing the run, may be the bowler can get a free ball the very next one where the batsmen has backed up. Some fairness to start off may be," wrote the Delhi Capitals bowler.
After a long coronavirus break, Ashwin will be back in action playing for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2020 which as per the IPL chairman Brijesh Patel will start on September 19, with the final scheduled for November 8 in the United Arab Emirates.