ICC to abolish widely-debated soft signal rule

ICC has decided to abolish the soft signal, with the scrapping set to come into force from June 1, 2023. The rule has been subject to much debate, with many of the opinion that the on-field umpires are at times too far from the action to decipher the legitimacy of a catch with the naked eye and pass on a soft signal, which holds considerable importance because if the third-umpire can not assimilate sufficient evidence to overturn a dicey call they have to stick with the on-field umpire’s verdict.

The removal of the soft signal will put the onus of adjudicating a close-shave dismissal wholly on the third umpire, who takes the help of video footage to determine whether a catch was taken cleanly or not.

The ICC Cricket Committee, headed by Sourav Ganguly, greenlighted the rule change, which has been conveyed to both the protagonists of the WTC final, India and Australia.

Apart from the major change, the panel stated that flood lights can be switched on during the WTC final in case of poor natural light. The one-off game will have a reserve day should weather play spoilsport.