Kohli Feels ICC Should Become More Lenient Regarding Water Break Rules

Indian captain Virat Kohli took one step closer in becoming India’s most successful Test captain as his side brushed aside the Windies by an innings and 272 runs.

Cricket news: Umpires often prevent on-field players from taking an untimely break

With the win India took a 1-0 lead in the two-match Test series and Kohli gained his 23rd Test win as a captain and is just 4 Test wins away to square his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The win was a good turnaround for Kohli as he had lost the previous two Test series against South Africa and England.

But after the win he raised his concern regarding the new rules laid down by the International Cricket Council (ICC) which permitted water breaks only during the fall of a wicket or in-between overs. Kohli hoped that the officials should take into account the factor of heat while executing such laws.

Though the home side had a better time on the field as they needed just 100 overs to take the 20 wickets of Windies, but the visitors had to toil for almost 150 overs to get 9 wickets which the Indian skipper thinks could be taxing for the players.

“That was a bit to do with the umpires pushing us as well, with these new rules coming in of not drinking too much water,” Kohli was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

The Windies managed 181 in their first innings and 196 in their second innings after being forced to follow on in reply to India’s mammoth total of 649. The visitors lost the game and in the process handed India the biggest ever Test match victory in terms of margin.

The temperature at Rajkot was over 40 degrees Celsius for all three days and the umpires were constantly monitoring the players from both the sides as they sought for drinks. India had to resort to five bowlers to ease the burden on them.

“The guys really struggled in this game because of those few changes. It was quite difficult for the guys not to drink water for close to 40-45 minutes while batting and on the field as well. I’m sure they’ll look into this,” the Indian skipper added.