It won’t be a standard one-day game

The International Cricket Council has approved the recommendations regarding substitution and field restrictions in the one-day international cricket adding a “tactical dimention” to the format making it more exciting.

It will not be a standard one-day game henceforth following the introduction of new experimental rules from next month and teams and captains will have to chalk out new plans, Sachin Tendulkar said today.

“It will not be a standard one-day game with the introduction of the new rules,” the ace Indian batsman told reporters here.

“I don’t know how different it will be (following the introduction of new rules), but the captains and teams will have to sit down and chalk out plans to introduce an element of surprise. Plenty of planning would be needed,” Tendulkar said during a promotional campaign here for Airtel.

“We (the teams) will have to play a couple of games (before guaging the exact impact of the changes),” said the ace batsman who is recuperating from an elbow surgery undergone late last month in London.

The ICC has announced that as an experiment it will allow a soccer-like substitution rule by which a replacement can be introduced at any stage of a one-day game who can bat and bowl, apart from field.

In another experiment introduced from next month, there would be field restrictions for the first ten overs and then for two other blocks of five to be decided by the fielding side captain.

Asked whether he would use a lighter bat once he returns to big-time cricket, Tendulkar indirectly hit out at critics who had written and said in the past that the tennis elbow injury he suffered was because of using a heavy bat.

“People seem to have decided a lot of things for me. I will have to decide what’s good for me. That’s what I have done for 16 years. The physios are also backing me,” said Tendulkar who took part in the promotional campaign for the cellular operator along with Bollywood hero Shah Rukh Khan.

The batting maestro was troubled by the tennis elbow since august last which forced him to miss the entire tri-series in Holland, the NatWest series in England and the ICC Champions Trophy, besides the first two home tests against Australia.

He returned to play the third test at Nagpur against Australia, played in the two-test series against South Africa and then visited Bangladesh in December for a test and one-day series.

Tendulkar continued to struggle with his injury and took some rest from the domestic circuit before taking part in the high-profile home series of three tests and six ODIs against Pakistan.

At the end of the series, Tendulkar went to London and finally decided to undergo surgery on his elbow in May-end following which he’s been ruled out of cricket for 14-16 weeks.

Tendulkar would miss the Indian team’s new season-opening tour to Sri Lanka for the tri-series in July-August and could return from his lay-off for the tour of Zimbabwe in September.