A new rule has been seen in the India vs Australia ODI series. The International Cricket Council (ICC) can implement new rules for the wide ball, but this rule has been implemented temporarily in the India-Australia series. In fact, two new lines have been drawn on both sides of the stumps, from inside which the umpire cannot give a wide if the ball passes, even if the ball does not touch the batsman or bat while passing through the leg side, it will still be declared wide.

What is the new rule?

Earlier, apart from the wide line, there were only return crease lines on the pitch. But in the Sydney ODI match, apart from these, two different and new lines have been drawn, which are much closer to the stumps than wide. According to the new rule, if the ball passes through the leg side without touching the batsman, but is within the blue line, then the umpire cannot give it wide.

The old rule used to say that if the ball passed through the batsman’s leg side, he would be immediately given a wide, but this is no longer the case. Therefore, it is no longer necessary that just because the ball hits the leg side, the ball will be given a wide.

Has been used in TNPL

This new rule has been seen in the Indian domestic franchise league Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL). However, the new wide rule was temporarily implemented in that league also. It was seen in TNPL that due to the introduction of the new rule, there has been a huge reduction in the number of wides in the matches. If we look at the statistics, the number of wide balls in the 2024 edition of TNPL was 311, but it came down to 275 in the 2025 season.

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There are many inequalities in limited overs cricket and Test matches. There is also rules regarding an inequality wide ball. The rules regarding wide are very strict in white ball matches, but less strictness in this matter in Test matches. Many times it happens that even when the ball is ball on the leg side, the umpire does not indicate the wide. After all, what are the rules of wide in red ball cricket and is it very difficult to understand them? Understand the entire rule in details here.

Talk about white ball cricket, the wide line/white line is about 89 centimeters from the stumps, and is a return crease at some distance. But in Test matches, there is no white line on the pitch for wide balls, there is only a white line with returns. Actually, wide is given in Test matches only when the ball is far away from the batsman’s reach. Wide balls have a lot of effect in ODI and T20 matches, while in Test matches, extra runs do not have much effect.

Usually when a bowler throws the ball out of the return crease, it is called wide. At the same time, if the ball passes through the return crease, but it is far from the batsman’s reach, then he will be called wide. Test rules for off-stump and leg stump wide balls are the same. Apart from this, even when a bowler passes by the bouncer batsman’s head, the umpire calls him wide.

One of the main reasons for not getting too wide in Test matches is that in red-ball matches, the competition between fielding and batting team is done to maintain the competition level. The bowlers have to throw long spells, so strict rules for the wide can be contrary to the bowling team.

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