Settling Scores

Yesterday morning, I read about the "bowl-out" that bizarrely ended the stalemate between India and Pakistan. I must admit, I wasn't really aware of the exact nature of the ritual until yesterday morning, but that is still better than the Pakistan team, who weren't aware of even its existence till they were thrown into the deep end!

Around 1994, if my failing memory serves me right in these twilight years of my youth, an exhibition match between West Indies and the Rest of the World was decided by a bowl out. For a ten-year-old me, this was the ultimate in excitement and innovation. Excitement and innovation are the cornerstones of this T20 format, with "reaching out to a larger audience" being a third foundation. With the bowl-out, cricket hopes to reach out to a larger share of ten-year-olds - a market segment where it has been continuously losing out to Spongebob Squarepants, Pokemon and DragonballZ.

Here are my suggestions for other exciting and innovative ways to break a tie:

1. A Penalty Shootout - You have the wicketkeeper standing before a goal, and a batsman from a fair distance tries to hit the ball into that goal. This could bring in football and hockey audiences from around the world.

2. An Obstacle Course with Capture-the-Flag contest - There are two bases - one for each team. Each base has a flag. The team that captures the flag from its opponent and reaches its own baes wins. Have stumps, bails, pads, rollers, and umpires as obstacles and players with bats and balls run around trying to hit each other and stop them from Capturing the Flag. The Unreal addicts would then start watching cricket - that is 7% of the world's TV-owning population!

3. Arbitration - Each team nominates one arbitrator to the Bench from the Elite Panel of Umpires, and the two arbitrators appoint a neutral Chief. The captains of the teams present their arguments for why their team should win or lose the game. Arguments need not be restricted to cricket and could extend to attacks of personal nature, including comparing cricketers from opposition to potatoes. The ever-burgeoning legal fraternity would queue up to watch Dhoni wax eloquently on the intricacies of the game.

4. The Age-old Game of Lagori - This game tests some core cricket skills - throwing, running, avoiding uncomfortable balls and most importantly, your mental strength. Indian rural audiences might start watching cricket if their favourite sport is shown to them once a year (the probability of a tie).

5. Mortal Kombat - Because history has proved to us this is most effective way of resolving any disputes! Because equals are equal and unequals are unequal in this go-for-throat battle. Because this town aint’ big enough for a tie. Round 1, fight!