5 elementary laws in cricket that make the game look like a joke

#3 Bowlers restricted to limited overs in ODIs and Twenty20s but not in Test Cricket

Bowling restrictions vary based on the format being played.

Cricket is perhaps one of the few disciplines in world sport that has multiple - internationally recognized - competitive formats. The need to satiate the appetite of an audience seeking dramatic cricketing action led to the creation of ODIs and later, Twenty20. And like most things in Cricket, these formats have regulations that are unique to each of them.

Test Cricket was originally designed to be a contest between batsmen and bowlers. And when played over a period of five days, teams attempt to bowl the opposition out – twice to be precise – while looking to concede the least amount of runs. And to aid the cause, a single bowler is permitted to bowl as many overs as they please.

Switch to ODIs and Twenty20 and you’ll find an upper limit being accorded to the number of overs that a bowler is allowed – ten in the former and four in the latter. Despite the primary objective of taking ten wickets staying unchanged, bowlers in the shorter formats bear the brunt of law makers desperately trying to ensure that no team has an unfair advantage by using a couple of bowlers that could bowl through the length of an entire innings from either end.

Imagine such a scenario in Football. What if the laws read, “To minimize the overwhelming impact of a center forward and a number 10, teams must field each of them for no more than 60 minutes in a game”? The outcome would be unimaginable – Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi being substituted after just 60 minutes, much to the dismay of cheering fans.

Hockey, for instance, features most teams playing penalty-corner specialists. Yet, there are no restrictions on the number of penalty-corners that the specialist can take. Similarly, American Football has a specialist “quarter-back” who plays the entire duration of the game unchanged. As is the case with Baseball, where the laws permit the same “pitcher” to send down every throw in all the nine innings of a ball-game.

Alas, there is no such luck for bowlers in cricket and its several versions. It is here that a bowler goes from “I’m feeling lucky” (when playing Tests where he can keep bowling till the cows come back home) to feeling like an albatross with wings clipped when playing limited overs cricket.