Cricket has been an intensely competitive sport since the past century. It has traversed various eras which highlighted the growth in its popularity through broadcast, gameplay and advances in its equipment. Be it the bat, ball or the cricket gear, the sport has now reached a point where it’s played in long and short formats to meet the demands of the viewers.
The advent of the faster format of the sport in the late 2000s signalled that batters now had to hit runs faster than ever. Power hitting took a new form and the number of runs scored in boundaries dramatically rose. It is imperative in such an era to see the ball being hurled outside the boundary ropes, into the crowds and at times outside the stadium.
There have been times when the ball is lost in cricket. In such cases, the umpire usually signals the ball dead. If the batters had hit or ran a certain number of runs before the umpire’s call, then those runs will be added to the total.
When a ball is lost, the ball that will be replaced must draw parallels with the ball that is lost. Since the cricket ball ages as the match progresses, it gets rougher after each over. The ball that replaces the lost ball must also have near similar wear patterns. This is because taking a brand new ball can become an unfair advantage to the bowling side as the shinier ball can swing more. A new ball can only replace a new ball if the ball is lost in the earlier stages of the innings or if the lost ball is a new one that is taken in the middle of the innings. These changes were amended in 2017.
