Shane Warne urges ICC to do away with fielding restrictions in limited overs cricket

Arguably the greatest ever spinner the game has seen, Shane Warne has rated Team India captain Virat Kohli as the greatest batsman of the modern generation ahead of England Test captain Joe Root and Mr.360 AB de Villiers. “No Joe Root and no AB de Villiers. It’s only Virat Kohli who makes me take notice,” said Warne who was part of the commentary crew for the opening Test between India and England.

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh has predicted that it will be a roller coaster ride for Team India in the upcoming series but Warne has rubbished their claims and expects the 4 match series to be an evenly contested one. He also cautioned the hosts to not take the visitors lightly.

“I don’t agree with what some of the pundits of the game have made forecast. The series will be a lot more tighter than what many think. Australia has some amazing players and you just wait and see as the series progresses. Australia’s mindset in this series is to attack. We are going to take it to India. It will be interesting to see what they do even as India definitely are favourites,” Warne was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

Warne was also looking forward to the duel between Aussie captain Steve Smith and Ravichandran Ashwin who is arguably the two best in the world in their own departments. “Smith is going to be his captain in the upcoming IPL so we have to see how he approaches this Test series because I seriously believe that IPL has broken down the barriers, which used to be there maybe 10 years ago.”

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The greatest spinner of all time also urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to properly market the longest format of the game. “If we don’t market Test cricket properly it is not going to be there because the Rock-an-roll cricket, the T20 cricket, will take over in some years,” he said. Warne further said that despite changes in the width of the bat, the shape of the ball has remained the same for 100 years and demanded a change in the condition of the match ball.

“The ball we bowl with is still the same as it was 100 years ago. Size and seam, and while bats became bigger and heavier, boundaries brought closer and fielding restrictions introduced but the ball is still the same as it was,” Warne was quoted as saying during the inaugural sports literature themed festival ‘SporTale’.

“Why has ball not changed over the years? The ball manufacturers should do something with the ball. Maybe put some swing into the ball,” he said. Warne also urged the ICC top do away with fielding restrictions in limited overs cricket and have big grounds and long boundaries.

“Leave it to the bowling side captain to decide where to put his fielders. Let him have all the nine fielders on the boundary. Rules should not restrict who stands where. In a T20 game, there should be just four bowlers bowling four overs each. We should have better quality bowlers rather than part-timers bowling absolute rubbish,” Warne concluded.