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Not too impressed with the field restriction rules being used in the One-Day Internationals, former India opener W V Raman has said the current format hardly leaves any scope for the spinners to make an impact in the 50-over format.
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"The field restrictions, four in the perimeter (outside the 30-yard circle) is not good enough. On one side we talk about trying to preserve Test cricket and on the other hand if you are going to have only four in perimeter, how are you going to apply the spinners in the One-Dayers?" asked Raman.
"If they don't play spinners in the one-day side, how do you expect them to be picked up in the Test format of the game. You need to give a chance to the spinners because you need the spinners to be playing a major part in cricket," the 49-year-old Tamil Nadu coach said.
The former left-handed batsman spoke about the four decades of World Cup in his keynote address at the Legends Club in Mumbai on Wednesday evening at a function to celebrate Vijay Hazare's birth centenary.
The Tamil Nadu coach said standardised pitches are the reason why teams are able to score 300 plus totals consistently in the ongoing World Cup.
"Standardisation of pitches by the ICC happened sometime ago. They wanted pitches to be standardised. They felt that if they come to the sub-continent wickets, the matches will swing like a yo-yo. So they felt they should at least have certain consistency about it.
"Even if you look at the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, people expected the tracks to be bouncier but they were flat except for the one game which featured India and England. If you were to have the pitches retaining their basic characteristics, I am sure the score won't be so consistent," he said.
Raman rated the Clive Lloyd-led West Indies as the best team, saying it dominated like no other.
"I would say Lloyd's team was the best team. If you look at the way they played, Australia won thrice (in a row) that is fine, but if you look at the way they played all those years, they dominated in all formats of the game.
"The only difference between the Australian team that dominated and Lloyd's team was that they were never beaten. They (Australia) tripped against New Zealand (in 99 World Cup). The Aussies always lost a Test even if they went on to win the series. That never happened with West Indies, as far as I can remember," he said.
The former Tamil Nadu player picked co-hosts New Zealand to finish as the runners-up during the ongoing World Cup.
Image: Ravichandran Ashwin of India
Photograph: Paul Kane/Getty Images