The Duleep Trophy and Irani Cup, two prestigious tournaments in Indian First Class cricket, showcased the cream of the crop. While the quality of cricket lived up to expectations, the sluggish pace of play, with teams and captains seemingly indifferent to adhering to the prescribed over-rate, cast a shadow over the proceedings.
Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane, a veteran of 85 Test matches, has called for the imposition of run penalties to curb the over-rate menace in domestic cricket. “There is no penalty for the overs short… if they start penalising the team by the number of runs for every over that the fielding team is short by, for instance 12 runs for one over, 24 for two and so on and it should be added after every day’s player,” Rahane suggested after leading Mumbai to its 15th Irani Cup triumph.
The over-rate in the Irani Cup was so abysmal that the game was repeatedly brought to a standstill. While Rest of India (RoI), led by Ruturaj Gaikwad, bowled 68 and 70 overs on the first two days, respectively, the final day’s play was the most bizarre. With RoI in no hurry and Mumbai batters employing time-wasting tactics to secure a draw, only 38 overs were bowled in 240 minutes before the teams shook hands.
Currently, the fielding captain and team face monetary sanctions for over-rate violations – 10 to 50% of the match-fee for the team and 20 to 100% for the captain. Monetary and disciplinary sanctions are also imposed on the batting side for time-wasting.
“I always believe that players should maintain that discipline. They should play within the rules. But at the moment there is no penalty, so I cannot comment too much about the rules. Whoever is managing domestic cricket, I feel if they can add a strict run penalty, it will be a huge thing,” Rahane emphasized.
