The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has announced a new format of cricket and named it 6ixty, with the expectation of being more participatory for the fans. CPL has introduced a host of new rules and they have made sure that they eliminate the batter’s advantage in the T20 cricket to some extent, while on the other hand, it has given incentives for bold cricket. Former Indian opener, Aakash Chopra offered his two cents on the competition and said that it might be odd to make too many changes to the format.
In the latest video on his Youtube channel, Aakash Chopra said, “Test matches used to be timeless, then came ODI cricket – that also went from 60 to 50 overs, then T20 came, and now T10 has come. I mean how much will you change the game, the 6ixty is going to come. Cricket’s fundamentals are that a team has 11 players and you need to get 10 players out to get the team all out. They said 10 players are too many for 10 overs, get only six players out and the team is all out.”
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Although he backed some ideas of change and said that it is good that incentives were present for both batters and bowlers.
New tournament, new rules. Here is The Universe Boss @henrygayle to take you through how THE 6IXTY takes the excitement to another level and you even closer to the action. #The6ixty #CricketsPowerGame #6ixtyCricket #CPL22 pic.twitter.com/zAED15rCH4
— THE 6IXTY (@6ixtycricket) June 22, 2022
Explaining his thoughts further, Aakash Chopra said, “This is very interesting that if any team hits two sixes in the first 12 balls, then you can unlock the third powerplay, you don’t need to take that together but anytime till the ninth over. So you have an incentive to go big in the first 12 balls. Five consecutive bowlers to be bowled from one side, that means five overs from one end and then five from the other, which does make sense, that you are trying to save time.”
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Aakash Chopra though pointed out the mystery hit pointer in the 6ixty where the crowd decides a random ball in the innings will be awarded as a free hit. He argued that it is quite odd for the bowler to be at a disadvantage despite doing nothing wrong.
The former opener explained, “This is very good that in 45 minutes if you don’t bowl your 10 overs, you will have to field with one less player in the last over. One more interesting thing is that you can create a ‘mystery free hit’, the spectators can decide that through a website or app. It will suddenly come on the big screen, the bowler will say what his mistake is.”
