One of the biggest casualties of having a new ball at either end could be reverse swing. “Just talking about India, you may see a bit of swing initially but you may not see reverse swing that a lot of fast bowlers rely on,” Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted.
“But again, a lot depends on the outfield,” added the Indian captain. “People will still try to ‘make’ the ball so that it reverses; of course, you have to do it legally. It will be exciting. A lot will depend on how dry the track is. If there is no reverse swing, you have good placid wickets and a nice outfield, you may see plenty of runs being scored.” His English counterpart, Alastair Cook, had a similar view. “Reverse will certainly have less of an impact on the game,” he remarked. “But if one ball does happen to reverse swing, you get to keep it and not change it after 34 overs like in the past. That’s a bonus. If it does reverse, it will put the opposition on the back foot.”
Under the amendments, the bowling and batting Power Plays can’t be taken before the 16th over, and must be got out of the way by the 40th. “It changes the dynamic of the game,. You will see spin a lot earlier, certainly by the 10th or 12th over, and probably more spin towards the end. A lot of the overs bowled in the Power Plays historically in all countries are by seamers. The world over, we will see more spin bowling towards the death.” Dhoni piped in. “We have not played so far with these Power Play situations. What you may see is a different approach to the Power Play. The third Power Play will be over by the 40th over, and you still have ten more overs left. There will be a few changes in tactics and hopefully as the team gets more and more used to it, you will find different methods being employed.”
