‘Bigger boundaries, more prominent ball seam’

Anil Kumble

If the game of cricket remains tilted heavily in the favour of batters, not many youngsters would be lining up to start bowling in a couple of years, fears spin great Anil Kumble, who advocated the need to have biger boundaries at IPL venues and the use of a more pronounced seam to restore the balance between bat and ball.

The score of 250 has been breached as many as eight times this season with shorter boundaries, flat pitches and Impact Player rule aiding the batting side. Like the great Sunil Gavaskar, Kumble also feels that keeping the maximum possible boundary length is need of the hour.

"It's been really hard on the bowlers, especially the first half of the tournament. I certainly believe that you need to maximize the boundaries at every venue. Try and keep the biggest boundary possible in that venue," India's leading wicket-taker across formats, said.

"For a start, you could move the dugout into the stands. I know you'll lose a few seats but so be it. Then the other aspect is to look at the white ball to have a slightly more pronounced seam so that there's a bit more movement.

"We have seen that the ball stops swinging after maybe just the one over or even less s. You need a balance between bat and ball. You can't be running in and just going through the motions where in a couple of years you won't have too many youngsters lining up to start bowling.

"Everybody wants to be a batter. You need the bowlers also to be a part of this game and the balance is very important. I expect that will also get addressed," he said.

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