Bipin Dani
In cricket, the toss is the flipping of a coin to determine which captain will have the right to choose whether his / her team will bat first or field at the start of the match. The long tradition will come to an end when the Indian cricket board has decided to scrap it in one of its domestic tournaments.
“In an innovative move, the toss will be abolished for CK Nayudu Trophy matches. Instead, the visiting team will be vested with the privilege to elect whether to bat or bowl first”, the BCCI has announced.
According to the former umpire MR Singh, this experiment was tried in England and dropped. “The choice of innings by toss offers a 50-50 chance to either side, which is fair”, he says.
“Whatever be the wicket prepared for the match, there’s an even chance. That, in my view, is more than enough to deter any home team from preparing a really bad pitch. The right for the visiting side to decide their use of the pitch is less than fair. I fail to see any virtue in this scheme. Furthermore, if a bad pitch is made, the Match Referee’s report can take care of that mischief”, MR Singh, who has officiated in men’s and women’s international matches, said.
“It’s an okay move and may be eliminating the assumed home advantage but I am not fully convinced since toss is the luck factor and every team would like to improve their team skills rather than depending ONLY on the Pitch conditions”, VK Ramaswamy, who stood as the world’s first neutral pair umpire (with late PD Reporter), says.
Adding further, he says, “if it is a rain affected pitch or overcast conditions it will be a visiting team advantage. Only time will tell the efficacy of this. It is like having neutral umpires to remove the so-called home bias”.
Interestingly, VinayakKulkurni, another Indian umpire, who later became an umpires’ coach sees positives in scrapping the toss.
“This will be a very good initiative if implemented. Since it is a limited overs game, sporting pitches will be prepared. gamble with doctored pitches will be considerably reduced. Having said that, the dew factor in day night matches will play an important role if they are so scheduled. Good experiment overall”, he said.
“It is not a demolition of a ceremony. Over the years a lot of traditions are taking a tweak in all walks of life and Cricket is one of them.
