India vs Australia, 2017: ICC exempts the limited overs series from new laws

What's the story?

Australia's tour to India will not be affected by the new laws of International Cricket as the International Cricket Council (ICC) has exempted the series due to the overlap of dates.

ICC had introduced new laws that were to be brought into effect from October. However, the five-match ODI series and the three-match T20 series between India and Australia will take place from 17th September to 13th October. The ICC then decided to consider the T20s as a part of the same series, thereby deciding to implement the current laws throughout the tour.

"The ICC has decided to put the new rules into use from series starting on 28 September so that they do not change midway through a series", an ICC Spokesperson was quoted speaking to Cricket.com.

In case you didn't know...

In May 2017, ICC accepted new laws which were to bring major changes in rules that govern the International Cricket. To name a few, the laws that were approved will now allow the umpire to send a player off the field owing to serious offences of misconduct.

They also restrict the bat dimensions, thereby limiting the depth (67 mm) and thickness of edge (40 mm). Rules monitoring the runouts have also been altered and the 'bouncing bat' run-out has been eliminated. Thus, the batsman will no longer be declared 'OUT' if he has reached the crease and his or her bat has bounced off the surface at that time (due to diving) while the bails move.

The details

The ICC had announced that the new laws will be brought into practice from October 1. However, India vs Australia and South Africa vs Bangladesh (Test series) were scheduled to begin on 17th September and 28th September respectively.

The overlapping of the dates had landed both the series in trouble as the implementation of the new laws on the due date meant that the rules will be changed midway in the series. It became more complicated for the South Africa-Bangladesh series as their first Test match would then be subjected to two different sets of rules.

Thus, it was decided that the introduction of the new laws will be preponed by two days and the South Africa vs Bangladesh will abide by the changes. However, the India-Australia series will continue with the current laws and will be the last series to abide by them despite the fourth ODI scheduled to take place on the same date.

What's next?

India will face Australia in five ODIs and three T20s. The ODI series will be held between 17th September and 1st October in Chennai, Kolkata, Indore, Bengaluru and Jamtha. Following that, The two teams will meet for three T20Is between 7th and 13th October in Ranchi, Guwahati and Hyderabad.

Author's take

The new laws that have been introduced by the ICC were done upon the recommendations of the ICC Cricket Committee. These laws will now attribute more authority the umpires now as well as it will bring uniformity in the equipment used by the players.

It was a good decision to exempt the India-Australia series from the new laws as it eliminates the execution of new rules midway in a series. The process will keep the game fair by avoiding any sort of confusion.