New Cricket Rules: Mankading A Fair Practice Now, Saliva Ban and Other Changes Approved by MCC

'Mankading', one of the most controversial and interesting concepts in cricket, has been made legal according to the new laws in cricket. The gentleman's game is set to witness a plethora of changes ranging from replacement players to applying saliva on the ball after they were approved by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to its 'Code of Laws'. With 'Mankading' made a legal practice in cricket, batters be watching their crease to see if they are safe or not before a bowler bowls a delivery! MCC Announces New Codes of Law; Removes Mankad From Unfair Play Section, Bans Use of Saliva

These new laws would not be in effect until October 2022. A total of nine changes can be expected in the game of cricket and in the list below, we shall take a look at them. Sachin Tendulkar Explains Why He Supports Few Rule Changes to Cricket Suggested by MCC (Watch Video)

1) Law 1-Replacement Players: Earlier, replacement players were treated as fresh entities but now, they would be treated as if they were the player that they replaced. So if a player is sanctioned and has been replaced, the fresh player coming in for him would carry the same sanctions.

2) Law 18 - Batters returning when Caught: According to this new rule, if a batter has been caught out, the new batter would replace him at the striker's end (unless the over is complete). This was first done in the Hundred in England last year.

3) Law 20.4.2.12 - Dead ball: If there is a pitch invasion of any sort, be it by a person or even an animal, the umpire, according to this rule change, would have the right to declare it as a dead ball. It would be applicable for deliveries that have yielded a boundary or even a wicket before the disturbance caused in the field of play.

4) Law 21.4 - Bowler throwing towards striker's end before delivery: According to this, if a bowler tries to run out the striker even before entering his delivery stride, the ball would be considered a dead ball, instead of a no-ball. This is likely to have less impact on the game as a bowler trying out a striker in such a manner is a rare occasion.

5) Law 22.1 - Judging a Wide: This is an interesting change to do with batsmen moving around the crease too much. In modern-day cricket, batters tend to move in their crease, make late changes to their positions to hit boundaries. Earlier, wide was signalled if the batter was unable to reach the ball in the position he ended up in. Now with this rule change, the umpire would consider a batsman's position at the crease after a bowler has started his bowling run up and then judge if a delivery is wide or not.

6) Law 25.8 -Striker's right to play a ball: Earlier, it was left on a batsman's jurisdiction to play any delivery that fell outside the pitch. Remember David Warner smacking Mohammad Hafeez for a six in the T20 World Cup 2021 semifinal by coming out of his pitch to strike the ball? Now, he would not be able to do that as the umpire will call it a dead ball. Simply put, a batter would be able to strike any delivery that ensures that he or a part of his bat remains in the crease. Anything else is a dead ball.

7) Laws 27.4 and 28.6-Unfair movement by fielding side: Now, the batting team would be given five extra runs if any fielder moves after a bowler has begun his delivery stride. Earlier, the umpire used to call it a dead ball but now, with this rule change, the batting team would have five runs added to their total. 

8)  Law 38.3 - moving the running out of the non-striker: Running out of the non-striker has now been moved from Law 41 (Unfair play) to Law 38 (Runout). According to this rule change, 'Mankading' doesn't remain an unfair practice now. Also, it would be renamed to 'run-out.' The term was coined way back after Vinoo Mankad, a former Indian cricket legend who had run out Australia's Bill Brown at the non-striker's end. Despite warning him, Mankad had found him to be crossing the line of his crease before he delivered the ball and hence, ran him out. This used to be something against the spirit of the game but it no longer is.

9) Law 41.3 - No saliva allowed on cricket balls: With this rule change, bowlers would no longer be able to polish the ball using their saliva. This rule gains more significance in light of the current COVID-19 crisis. Now, a bowler using saliva to polish the ball would be considered an unfair act, believed to have been done in order to change the ball's condition.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 09, 2022 09:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).