Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is not overly worried about the bat-ball imbalance in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
In the 44 matches so far, 200-plus totals have been chased down on 11 occasions. Experts attribute these tall scores and a huge increase in fours and sixes to the Impact Player rule which has effectively made cricket a twelve-a-side contest, giving batting sides the license to go hard all the way through.
“Some low-scoring matches have also been there,” Devajit Saikia, BCCI secretary told reporters at the BCCI headquarters. “All the fans are enjoying the matches. The bowlers are getting good wickets as well. Some teams are scoring very low totals too if you look at the overall scorecards, and some teams are chasing 260 also. Everything is happening. It is a full bouquet in one package.”
Saikia’s views are in sync with those voiced by Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Muttiah Muralitharan, who attributed rules encouraging batting dominance to commercial reasons.
“Short boundary lines are not the thing, it is the wickets. But then the spectators will say it’s becoming boring. 20-20 followers like entertainment. They want to see fours and sixes,” Muralitharan had said. “That’s why the tournament is built like that. It’s entertainment. This is not looking at developing cricket. It is a big business at the moment.”
Saikia said any review of the Impact Player rule would only happen at the conclusion of this year’s IPL. “This discussion on the rule has been going on for the last two years. We will review it after this tournament is over. In the middle of the tournament, we cannot take any call,” he said.
Playoff venues in two days
A decision on the playoff matches – Qualifier 1, Eliminator, Qualifier 2 and the final – will be made in the next two days. “We are working on what the appropriate venue for the IPL playoff and the final can be, and it will be known in two days,” he said, not ruling out venues other than last year’s finalists’ home towns – New Chandigarh and Bengaluru – getting those matches. Over the last few years, Ahmedabad has hosted two of the playoff matches for different reasons.
Saikia repeated that they were exploring ways to penalize franchises like Rajasthan Royals for not adhering to the IPL code of conduct. Recently, RR captain Riyan Parag was found vaping in the dressing room, for which he was fined 25 percent of match fees.