With run-fests becoming a recurring feature in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season, one must ask, is there any breathing space for bowlers in modern T20S? The game continues to become heavily lopsided in favour of the batters, and there is a desperate need to restore parity. Just some days, Gujarat Titans all-rounder Jason Holder spoke to HT Digital, where he talked about increasing the size of the boundary ropes to bring the bowlers back into the contest. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar also reckons that the time has come for the lawmakers to recognise the need of the hour.
The 1983 World Cup-winner stated that the umpires should give leeway to the bowlers when they call wides for a bouncer that barely goes over the batter's head. Gavaskar said that the speedsters continue to be handicapped in a format that, anyway, favours the batters, and that the time has come for the balance to be restored.
Gavaskar, one of the finest batters the game has ever seen, batted for the rule to be tweaked so that the pacers have more to play with.
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There’s the ‘wide ball’ call for a bouncer going barely over the batter’s head. This is like asking a fast bowler to bowl with one hand tied behind his back. C’mon, give him some leeway. After all, with boundary lengths being shortened even though there’s enough space to push them back, the bowlers are being short-changed, and now, with this interpretation where the ball is called a wide if it goes above the batter’s head in his normal stance, the quickies are being handicapped even more," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
{{/usCountry}}There’s the ‘wide ball’ call for a bouncer going barely over the batter’s head. This is like asking a fast bowler to bowl with one hand tied behind his back. C’mon, give him some leeway. After all, with boundary lengths being shortened even though there’s enough space to push them back, the bowlers are being short-changed, and now, with this interpretation where the ball is called a wide if it goes above the batter’s head in his normal stance, the quickies are being handicapped even more," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
{{/usCountry}}“If that rule can be tweaked to allow the quick a margin of one foot, approximately the length of the bat handle, above the head while in his batting stance, that would give the fast bowler some relief and encouragement to fire in some more,” he added.
Request to Sourav Ganguly
Gavaskar also requested the former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who is currently the Chair of the ICC Men's Cricket Committee. He wants Dada to come up with a way to give the pacers some leeway and change the definition of a wide bouncer.
The former Indian batter said that a good player will always be able to score off a bouncer, which is just about a bat handle's height above their normal stance.
“When I took over as Chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee, the other members joined me in bringing the bouncer back in the format, albeit one per over per batsman. The pinch-hitters disappeared. More importantly, the bowlers got one of their weapons back. You don’t restrict a batter from playing any shot, do you? So why restrict the bowlers from trying all the varieties that they possess? That’s why there is a case to give the speedsters a little more leeway as far as the definition of the wide bouncer is concerned,” wrote Gavaskar.
“A good batter should be able to score off a bouncer, which is about a bat handle’s height above his normal stance. That might even up the battle slightly in a format where, more often than not, even the best fast bowlers in the game are in for a hiding. So, c’mon Sourav Ganguly, when you chair the next ICC Cricket Committee meeting, spare a thought for the bowling fraternity too,” he added.