New rules for IPL

The IPL technical committee met and there were certain decisions taken with respect to the remainder of the games at this year’s IPL. These can be enumerated as follows:

a. The remaining group matches will have one extra hour in case of rains, before the overs start deducting. This extra period becomes two hours in case of semi-finals and finals. b. There will also be a reserve day for the finals in case it is washed out. c. There will be a stricter law with respect to substitute fielders. Players will be allowed to have substitutes only if they are injured, ill or any other reason acceptable to the umpire. However, comfort breaks will not be allowed to fielders as was the case earlier. It had been seen that many of the cricketers would come off the field for an over or two for no plausible reason, which was a blatant bending of rules. d. Third umpires would be given more responsibility; they would be able to adjudicate on legality of catches as well. e. And lastly, if the ball did hit the sky camera – the one that hovers over the pitch – it would be declared as a dead ball.

While the other rules seem okay, what surprises me is that the ICC has already got the rule to disallow fielders from running off at their own whims and fancies, so why wouldn’t the IPL have incorporated this in the first place!