26 April,2026 08:43 AM IST | Mumbai | Sunil Gavaskar
SRH’s Abhishek Sharma (left) and Travis Head during their match vs DC in Hyderabad recently. Pic/IPL; for representation purposes
As the Tata IPL reaches the half-way stage, it is clear that last year's finalists Bengaluru and Punjab are carrying on from their excellent campaign then and looking even better. It's incredible what confidence can do in sport and that can be seen in the way they are making light work of what seemed impossible for them till last year.
In fact, everything about this year's IPL looks better than the previous years. It's not just the cricket but just the overall ambience around it.
Obviously, I am speaking from a commentator's point of view and the hotels, the travel schedule, everything seems even better than last year. The abundance of flight options means that even after a late, post-midnight return to the hotel, the next morning's flight doesn't have to be before breakfast.
What can be improved of course is the time taken to finish a game. The BCCI comes up with SOPs for the IPL teams every year and in the last couple of years there's also a timer between overs, so that the next over begins before 60 seconds have passed. If a team breaches it again after two warnings, five runs are added to the opposition score as a penalty for the breach. This is terrific and most teams have adhered to it. The umpires and match referee also have to keep an eye on the batters at the crease to ensure they are not the ones causing the delay in beginning the next over. Now here is where a similar penalty of five runs could ensure the batters are not fiddling and wasting time, so the fielding side gets penalised.
When the T20 format was first conceived, there was a clock at the ground which went backwards from 180 minutes because that was the time the game should take. Then came the ruling that two minutes allowance should be given for a wicket and the next batter taking his first ball. So, if a batting team loses say five wickets a ten-minute allowance is given for that. Add to it the CEAT Tyres strategic timeout and the game just goes on for almost an hour longer if not more. This is where BCCI can come in and get stricter with the time allowance given.
Today all batters are in the dug-out instead of being in their change room as in the past, so the allowance of two minutes can be brought down to a minute and if the batter is not ready to face the bowler, then after a couple of warnings to the team, the penalty runs should kick in. Similarly, the first ball after the strategic time out should be bowled exactly after two minutes and 30 seconds have passed. Here also the actual time taken at the end of the over and then the umpire signalling time out means the break is for almost three minutes. Yes, it's peak summer and so the players need to cool down and get some refreshing drink, but this is being exploited and the time out can stretch unnecessarily. Again, a penalty of runs will make a huge difference. Today, with the amount of money that is on offer, a financial penalty is nothing for the teams who usually take care of the individual player's financial penalty too. Unless the penalty is such that it can affect the result of the game, it won't be effective. See the panic that happens when a team is penalised for not bowling its overs in time and is allowed one player less outside the 30-metre ring for the final over. That's because it can affect the result of the game. A points or runs penalty will ensure that there is no dawdling between the overs.
The other aspect that should be strictly disallowed is for the reserve player running onto the ground in the middle of the over to convey the coach or captain's instructions to the players on the field. The reserve player who does that should get a demerit point even though he may be merely following the dugout's instructions. Yes, it could well happen for 14 games, 14 different players could run into the field and so the demerit point may not make a difference to a player but here again if a team does it more than twice in the tournament and not just the match, then a penalty should be imposed.
Often one sees the unnecessary sight of reserve players stepping onto the ground to give a bottle of water to the fielder near the boundary. That should not be allowed, as that would mean more than 11 players on the field while the play is on even though it may be between deliveries.
At the strategic time out too, one often sees about half a dozen others on the ground including the batters who are next into bat. That is taking the liberty too far. Here again apart from the two reserve players with the drinks and two from coaching staff and nobody else should be allowed on the ground. As Richie Benaud said to me at the start of my broadcasting career, the ground is a sacred place and should be entered only by those officiating and those playing. This is the reason if, am not doing any pitch report or a TV show, I hardly step out on the field. Hopefully, the BCCI will also ensure that and all the committee members who have all access accreditation also do not step inside the boundary. Keep the sanctity of the playing area please.
The IPL is a fantastic tournament, but a bit of looseness and laxity is coming in which is not cricket and if the ever-alert BCCI can take measures to get it even more crisper and tighter, it will be truly unbeatable and brilliantly spectacular as any event can ever be.
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