Former speedster Kuruvilla opposes Super Over in World Cup 2019 final

Abey Kuruvilla

Former India speedster Abey Kuruvilla strongly opposed the Super Over system to decide the World Cup winner, which was England when scores were tied against New Zealand at Lord's on Sunday.

"A 100-over game cannot be decided in one over - at least five overs each - so every bowler bowls one over. Then, it's a contest. A one-over game is a game of chance and that cannot decide the winner of the World Cup. New Zealand and England were equal in everything," Kuruvilla told mid-day yesterday.

Former international umpire Madhav Gothoskar felt the Kiwis should have been declared winners. "In the overthrow case, the umpires should have allowed only five runs. In this case, the batsmen had not even crossed, so they should have granted only five runs - one plus four overthrows. At that time, the score was 240 and New Zealand could have been winners by one run. It was the duty of umpire Erasmus to check whether the batsmen had crossed or not.

How can a senior observer like match referee Ranjan Madugalle overlook this," asked Gothoskar. However, Mumbai's senior wicketkeeper-batsman Aditya Tare felt there is no need to change the rules. "The rules of the Super Over and number of boundaries were drafted before the tournament. Fortunately or unfortunately, the match witnessed a double tie. We just have to accept whatever has happened," said Tare.'

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