The International Cricket Council (ICC) has made a big change in the rules of cricket. Especially there has been a historical change in the rules of a free hit, due to which the batters will get many benefits.
According to the new free hit rule, if the ball hits the stump on the free hit and the batsman takes a run, those runs will be counted in the batsman’s account. Now the runs of free hit runs will not be added to the account of extra runs.
Now if the ball hits the stumps on the free hit and the batsman scores runs on it, it will be added to the score. This means the batter can score runs despite being bowled on the free hit.
In the 2022 T20 World Cup match between India and Pakistan, when the ball hit the stumps on a free hit in the 20th over, Dinesh Karthik and Virat Kohli ran for three runs, but all the runs were added in the run-by. Although now the rule has changed. Now all the runs will be added to the batsman’s account.
The second major announcement is to make it mandatory to wear helmets in risky situations. When the batsman is facing the fast bowlers, when the wicketkeeper is standing near the stumps, and when the fielder is standing close to the batsman, it is mandatory to wear a helmet in these situations.
All these rules will be applicable from June 1, 2023, from the only Test match to be held at Lord’s between England and Ireland. The final World Test Championship between India and Australia, starting on June 7, will be played under the new rules only.
In addition, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to remove the controversial ‘soft signal’ rule given by on-field umpires.
The ‘soft signal’ has been used to determine the validity of a catch taken a few inches above the ground because the naked eye cannot accurately judge such a catch. Until now, the on-field umpires used to signal ‘out’ or ‘not out’ based on their estimation, called ‘soft signal’. In most cases, it was difficult to estimate the catch correctly from the TV footage, and in such a situation, the third umpire gives his decision based on a ‘soft signal’.
