Shane Watson, former Australian all-rounder who retired from all forms of cricket recently slammed the new rules introduced in Big Bash League (BBL 10), calling them a ploy and a deceived attempt to refresh the tournament.
BBL had introduced three new playing conditions including ‘Power Surge’ where additional two overs for powerplay can be taken, the ‘X Factor Player’ where a substitute can be taken and the ‘Bash Boost’ where teams get points if they are ahead midway- changing the Power Play and substitution rules.
Shane Watson: Big Bash League Introducing Gimmicks In Misguided Attempt Which Are Complexities
Shane Watson signed with BBL franchise Sydney Thunder in 2015. He was even the captain of the team. Shane Watson announced his retirement from the BBL on 26 April 2019.
“I read today that the BBL is introducing these new gimmicks, such as the ‘Power Surge’, the ‘X Factor Player’ and the ‘Bash Boost’ in a misguided attempt to reinvigorate the tournament. I just can’t seem to get my head around why there are people out there who are trying to reinvent the wheel when the wheel was not broken,” Shane Watson stated.
“The complexities that these new ‘science experiments’ are going to create for the viewers, let alone the players and coaches, when none of these have been tried and tested at lower levels, have really taken the wind out of my sails.”
“The simple game plan in my mind is to get the world’s best cricketers playing on world-class pitches and guess what, you will get world-class cricket to watch for the cricket lovers out there and we will all be on the edge of our seats admiring the feats of these amazing cricketers.”
Shane Watson had announced retirement from all formats of the game after the conclusion of his IPL 2020 campaign where he played for Chennai Super Kings. He was one of the prominent players for Sydney Thunder till the 2019 season. Shane Watson featured in 59 tests,190 ODIs and 58 T20Is, the last of which came in 2016.
Usman Khawaja: Rule Changes Complicate An Already Complicated Game Further
Australian batsman Usman Khawaja too had criticized the newly created rules which will be incorporated in the BBL 2020-21 edition. He had said that T20 is already complicated and new rules will complicate it further in his official Twitter handle. Usman Khawaja played 44 tests and 40 ODIs but wasn’t considered for selection after August 2019.
So had a day to think about new BBL rules. My biggest issue is that the BBL is all about (and great at) getting new people involved whom have never played. But the rule changes complicate what's already a very complicated game (for newcomers). Shouldn't we be going the other way?
— Usman Khawaja (@Uz_Khawaja) November 17, 2020
The first rule ‘Power Surge’, will consist of a two-over spell where the side fielding will be allowed to place two fielders outside the inner ring circle. However, to incorporate the rule the powerplay at the start of the innings has been reduced to four overs from the earlier six and the batting side can take the two overs from 11th over onwards.
‘X-factor Player’, which is the second new rule, gives the team to bring in a 12th or 13th player who isn’t part of starting playing XI into the game after the conclusion of 10th over of the first innings replacing the player who should not have batted or bowled more than one over.
The third rule ‘Bash Boost’ is a bonus point awarded midway in the second innings. The batting side will receive a bonus point if they are above or equivalent to a 10-over score of the opposition who have batted earlier. However, considering the opposite scenario, the fielding side will be awarded the bonus point.