Ian Chappell calls for cricket law change

Former Australian captain Ian Chappell on Sunday called for a revision of the laws of cricket to prevent a repeat of the soporific tally of 166 runs on day three of the final Test between India and Australia.

Chappell said the dreadful spectacle, watched by only a handful of spectators at Nagpur's newly-built Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, had to be addressed by the game's lawmakers as Test cricket fights for relevance in a world turned upside down by Twenty20.

Having been stunned by an Australian counter-attack on the second afternoon, Indian captain Mahendra Dhoni resolved to strangle the tourists' scoring on the third morning, setting fields where only one man roamed the legside while his bowlers pursued a line well wide of the off stump.

In response, Simon Katich and Mike Hussey chose to "wade it out" and try to attack later in the day, resulting in a first session where just 42 runs were scored.

Neither Katich nor Hussey were able to survive long enough to fulfill their objective, and the hole dug in the morning could not be avoided by the incoming batsmen, meaning three wickets fell for 49 in the post-lunch session and the match tilted firmly to India.

The 166-run total for the day was the 12th smallest achieved in a full day of Test cricket.

"It is not the sort of cricket I like to see," Chappell told website Cricinfo.

"Administrators have got to think about suggesting that perhaps no more than two-thirds of the fielders can be on one side of the wicket.

"It really isn't a lot of fun watching the bowlers bowling well wide of the stumps and batsmen putting their bats on their shoulders."

Chappell said that while such tactics were allowed to be employed, captains would invariably go back to them whenever it was expedient to do so.

Australia, too, have worked to an essentially defensive battle plan all series, placing men on the ropes to limit the flow of boundaries while also eschewing the conventional slips cordon for catchers and run-savers in front of the wicket.

Their strategy has been heavily criticised by the Indian team, and in truth never worked anywhere near as well as Dhoni's choker hold on Saturday.

"India dominated the day's play and it was really up to the Australians to get moving," Chappell said.

"India employed tactics that probably don't make for good viewing but I guess Dhoni will say 'at the end of the day, we're leading by 86 runs and I don't care what you think of my tactics'."

Katich was clearly steamed up about the issue, rebuking a local journalist for asking why he and Hussey had gone into their shells during the morning.

"You're kidding, aren't you?" Katich remarked.

"We were defensive with an 8-1 field?"

Indian quick Ishant Sharma bowled with tremendous discipline to follow Dhoni's plan, and said it had been satisfying to bore the Australians out.

"We had to wait for our chances," he said.

"We tried to attack but went for a few runs. So our plan was to be defensive, because this was the only way we could have come back in the game.

"They are an attacking team and they tried to attack but just couldn't. It feels great when you restrict the No.1 side in the world to 166 runs in an entire day."