ICC World Test Championship 2021: ICC unveiled new playing conditions and rules ahead of WTC Final between India and New Zealand

ICC World Test Championship 2021: ICC unveiled new playing conditions and rules ahead of the WTC Final between India and New Zealand.

ICC World Test Championship 2021: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday introduced a new set of playing conditions for the forthcoming World Test Championship Final which will be held between India and New Zealand at Rose Bowl, Southampton.

The rules relating to the Reserve Day, Draw or a Tie match, DRS call, Player Review and Short Runs have been tweaked for the final by the governing body.

According to the new set of playing conditions, in case of a draw or a tie match, both the teams will be held joint winners.

"The playing conditions confirm that a draw or a tie will see both teams crowned as joint winners,? said ICC.

ICC also stated that a reserve day on 23rd June will be kept in case of any time lost during the regular test days. The final between the two finalists is scheduled from 18 June to 22 June.

?The allocation of a Reserve Day to make up for any lost time during the regular days of the Final - scheduled to be played from 18 to 22 June, with 23 June set aside as the Reserve Day. Both of these decisions were made in June 2018, prior to the commencement of the ICC World Test Championship," the ICC said in its media release.

The final call on whether the reserve day needs to be used or not will be taken by the match referee. All these details will be communicated to the teams and media.

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The announcement of the reserve day play will be called before the start of the last hours of play on day 5 of the test match.

Duke's ball to be used:

India uses normal SG balls in the test games at home while New Zealand goes with a Kookaburra one in their home test games, the final at Southampton will be played with the high-quality Grade 1 Dukes ball.

ICC has also put together some tweaks in the normal cricket rules like Short Run, DRS Call and for the Player?s Review.

Short Runs:

The TV Umpire will automatically access the short run call of the on-field umpire and clarify the proper decision to the umpires before the next ball.

DRS Call:

For a Leg Before Review, the height margin of the Wicket Zone has been lifted to the top of the stumps to ensure the same Umpire's Call margin around the stumps for both height and width.

Player?s Review:

The batter or the opposition skipper is now allowed to communicate with the on-field umpire whether a genuine attempt to play the shots is made by the batsman before initiating the Player?s Review for LBW.

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