White ball does nothing: Gavaskar bats for the bowlers, says use pink ball for ODIs

Brisbane: Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar says pink ball should be used in One-day cricket to make it more competitive since white ball leaves nothing for the bowlers. High-scoring matches have become the norm and even a score in excess of 300 is not considered safe these days. In the Perth ODI, India scored 309 for three but hosts Australia easily overhauled the target. [caption id=“attachment_2521374” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The pink ball used in the first of its kind Day Night Test between Australia and New Zealand at Adelaide. Getty[/caption] “The white ball does nothing for bowlers. I actually call it a ’nothing doing ball,” Gavaskar said. The former India opener said the initial experiment with pink ball in day-night Test match can be taken extended to 50-over format too. “What could be interesting is that with the success of pink ball it may used in limited over cricket to even the balance between bat and ball,” he said. Australia had won the first ever day-night Test match, played with pink ball, against New Zealand. Indian opener Rohit Sharma though differed in his view on the issue. Rohit, who scored an unbeaten 171 against Australia in Perth, said it can be difficult to play with white ball in certain conditions. “I don’t agree that the white ball doesn’t do anything. If you play in tough conditions it can be a nightmare for the batsmen. When you play with two new balls and conditions are against batsmen and it is overcast the ball tends to swing a bit,” he said. PTI