Ravichandran Ashwin, a star Indian cricketer, has proposed postponing matches during the 2018 World Cup in India to minimise the dew effect.
Dew has long been a factor in many subcontinental matches, giving those pursuing an unfair edge. Because of the possibility of dew, the captain who wins the toss chooses to pursue.
In a video posted on his YouTube page, Ashwin said unequivocally that when the World Cup comes to India later this year, the matches should begin at least two hours earlier to eliminate the dew problem.
“My suggestion — or rather my opinion — for the World Cup is to look at what venues we are playing in, and at what times. Why shouldn’t we start matches at 11.30am during the World Cup?” For the record, day-night ODIs in India usually begin at 1.30 pm, and extend well into the primetime television hours.
Using the 1st ODI between India and Sri Lanka in the just finished series as an example, the 36-year-old conveyed his opinions by noting that the gap in team quality is not obvious due to the dew. India scored 373/7 batting first in the first ODI, while Sri Lanka managed 306/8.
“India batted beautifully on a slow wicket and posted a score well above par. Still they ended up having to fight tooth and nail to win. “The quality difference between the teams isn’t coming through – dew is narrowing that gap if you happen to lose the toss.”
Ashwin further said that since it is a World Cup and will be held in India, people would definitely tune in to watch the game regardless of the schedules, so it would only be fair to start at least two hours early to eliminate the dew issue and enable people to watch not late into the night.
