AB de Villiers makes interesting suggestion on DRS calls; fans react
In an interesting take, former Proteas cricketer AB de Villiers opined that the commentators should be allowed to vote on DRS-worthy close calls instead of assigning it to a third umpire as it'd make the sport "very entertaining" to watch.
The major challenge of the idea is that the umpires go through significant DRS training before getting into the box. On the other hand, commentators are often former cricketers and veteran journalists, without any prior formal technical knowledge. Also, unlike the umpires, the commentators aren't chosen by the ICC for all series and tournaments. Instead, they are picked by the broadcasters based on their communication skills which implies that an important phase of the game will be shown to all audiences in just one language if de Villiers' idea is to be considered seriously.
The South African's extraordinary suggestion came in reply to a post by ex-English star batter Kevin Pietersen. The latter had said a new rule where sixes over 100 meters in distance will be given as 12 runs was "on its way".
AB de Villiers makes a unique suggestion for 100m+sixes
De Villiers suggested that a significant six should not be rewarded with 12 runs as it would be deemed 'too big'. Instead, he proposed that cricket should consider awarding eight or nine runs for such shots. He believes that assigning a value of nine is particularly intriguing, as it is a mirror image of six, introducing an additional element of interest to the game.
"12 is too big, I think 8 or 9(upside down 6) is good. Can’t jump from 4 to 6 to 12," de Villiers said.
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The Proteas cricket icon also urged that improvements in six-distance measuring technology be made before implementing such changes in scoring.