5 Rules Of Cricket That Should Be Changed After The Coronavirus Pandemic

After emerging from Wuhan in China last year, the Coronavirus has now gripped the whole world, affecting more than 190 countries.  The conditions refuse to improve as developed countries such as America, Spain, Italy have failed to combat the deadly illness.

The fact that a cure for the same, hasn’t been found so far, has complicated matters a lot, and hence staying at home and practising social distancing is the only way to curb the spread of the Coronavirus. Due to this, all forms of professional cricket has been suspended indefinitely, up until the situation improves.

Not just cricket, the Tokyo Olympics of 2020 have also been postponed until 2021, because of the contagious disease. While we continue to hope that things will get better one day, things will change when cricket resumes, after the crisis passes by.

Here are the five rules of cricket that should be changed after the Coronavirus pandemic:

5) Shining the ball with saliva

Shining the ball with saliva is a regular sight in cricket, as it enables bowlers to get the required swing in the air. Since the rules allow this, it’s a tactic used by many players. However, now that Coronavirus has been around for some time now, studies have shown that one way how the disease can spread is through saliva.

The saliva of a person infected with the virus can spread it to other people as well. Therefore, judging by the severity of the situation at hand, we can expect the International Cricket Council (ICC) to make a rule to stop players from shining the ball using their saliva.

This, in turn, would stop them from spreading the disease further, irrespective of the fact whether they are infected or not. It’s just one of the rules of cricket that must be changed after the pandemic.

4) Handshakes (A ban on handshakes)

Another common sight in cricket or all kinds of sports nowadays are handshakes. Before the toss, skippers of both teams greet each other with a handshake, and after a cricket match ends, players from both sides shake hands, which is a gesture of sportsmanship.

However, the Coronavirus spreads from contact between two people. So to reduce the possibility of infection, the governing body of cricket may be forced to bring about a change in the rules of cricket, after the crisis ends.

Such a change would be a strange one, but it’s a possibility and should be taken into account until and unless the pandemic gets eradicated.

3) Matches behind closed doors

Initially, when the Coronavirus started to spread at an alarming rate, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) were pondering to have matches behind closed doors. Australia and New Zealand even played a game without fans, in an empty stadium, to protect the fans from the virus.

This way, there would have been no need to abandon matches, although owing to the security and health of players, the authorities saw fit to cancel all bilateral commitments, one by one. In the current scenario, one thing is clear: whenever we will have cricket up and running, the matches will be held behind closed doors.

At least initially, it would be an excellent way to resume cricketing activities, and it would nullify the possibility of community spread of the pandemic.

2) Health checkups and sanitization of fans

Cricket is one of the most popular sports across the world. Therefore, once the current crisis comes to a halt, fans will be expected to flock to the stadiums again to support their teams, albeit the cricketing bodies would be expected to take some form of precaution to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.

Recently, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) were planning to have professional cricket back in the region, by installing health checkup booths for players inside the stadium premises itself. Such a step could be implemented for the fans as well.

Fans would be required to sanitize themselves properly, have a proper medical check-up, and then they may be allowed to enter the stadiums. While still a long shot, this could be one of the methods brought in cricket, to get the matches underway.

1) Jampacked Stadium (Social Distancing)

Until now, scientists have failed to formulate a vaccine for Coronavirus, and therefore, the most effective method to stop its spread is to practise social distancing. Once, the situation improves, and professional cricket resumes, the respective cricket boards would be required to act logically and avoid a relapse of the condition.

Besides, the fans may be asked to maintain the distance of at least 1 metre, if they wish to watch the matches from the stands. In this way, social distancing could go a long way, under regular service resumes.

While there this is another theoretical suggestion, one cannot underestimate the grave effects of Coronavirus, so prevention is the best way to cure the pandemic until an actual vaccine is invented.