Gautam Gambhir bats for bowlers, says rules are 'lopsided' in favour of batsmen

Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has come forward and urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to strategise something for the bowlers. Gambhir's remarks might have come after India's six-wicket loss against England in the second ODI that was played at Maharashtra Cricket Association on Friday where all the Indian bowlers conceded in excess of 50 runs (Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/63, Prasidh Krishna 2/58, Shardul Thakur 0/54, Kuldeep Yadav 0/84, and, Krunal Pandya 0/72 respectively.

'So lopsided in favour of batsmen': Gautam Gambhir

Taking to the micro-blogging site, Gambhir wrote that the rules of the game seem so lopsided in favour of batsmen that bowlers seem redundant, ‘also rans’ and then went on to add that the governing body of world cricket urgently needs to relook at the circle rule, two new balls and bouncer restrictions otherwise bowlers will be reduced to programmed bowling machines. Gauti concluded by tagging the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

While some of the fans were on the same page with the 2011 World Cup winner, there were others who came up with their own opinions as well. Here are some of the reactions.

England stay alive in the ODI series

Chasing a stiff total of 337, openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow added 110 runs for the opening wicket before the former's innings was cut short courtesy of a run-out. Ben Stokes and Bairstow then added 175 runs for the second-wicket stand as the duo made the Indian bowlers toil hard for wickets. Jonny brought up his 11th ODI century as England made easy work of this run chase before Stokes, he and stand-in-captain Jos Buttler were dismissed in quick succession.

However, important middle-order contributions from Dawid Malan (16*), and, Liam Livingstone (27*) took the visitors home by six wickets and 39 balls to spare. By the virtue of this win, the reigning ODI world champions stay alive in the three-match series (with a 1-1 margin). The decider will be played on Sunday at the same venue.

Image Credits: ICC/Twitter/PTI