Reports – BCCI to use SG white balls in limited-overs home games

It is common knowledge for cricket fans in India that for all of the Indian cricket team’s limited-overs matches at home, the official kookaburra white ball is used, while for the longest format, the SG Test brand balls are used. However, latest reports suggest that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are now planning to replace the kookaburra whites with SG white for the shorter formats. The matter was brought up at the Annual Domestic Captain-Coaches’ Conclave in Mumbai.

SG ball was used in this year’s domestic season 

In the domestic season 2017-18, the Indian board used SG white for the Mushtaq Ali T20 and Vijay Hazare Trophy on an experimental basis. It can be noted that until now, only the first-class games were played with white SG ball and not the List A games. Reports also add that the cricketers didn’t have too many complaints about playing the T20s white the SG ball, which is why the board is keen to introduce the same in international home games too.

“The matter was discussed with GM (Cricket Operations), Saba Karim. We could see Indian team using SG white for ODIs and T20s next season. The SG balls have a more pronounced seam and that’s one of the factors,” a senior coach of a state team told PTI on Monday.

Another important issue that was addressed in the meeting was that of poor umpiring in domestic matches, about which several captains and coaches have complained. The umpiring panel doesn’t boast of any well-known names apart from Sundaram Ravi.

“Most of the captains and coaches have had complaints about umpiring standards. There were a lot of debatable decisions given. In general, the standard of Indian umpires can be gauged by the fact that only Sundaram Ravi is there in the Elite Panel,” a BCCI official told PTI.

Ravi is a member of the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires and he has umpired in several Test matches, ODIs and T20Is.