Image Credit- BCCI
The IPL 2024 has brough about a rule change that could
see a potential shift in the contest between bat and ball in the lucrative franchise
tournament. The upcoming season of the tournament will allow bowlers to bowl 2
bouncers per over. The main intention behind enforcing this rule in the coming
editions is to make sure that there is a level playing field in the contest
between bat and ball, making it more even and balanced.
This change was first trialed in the recently-concluded
edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, which is India’s domestic T20
competition. After gathering the necessary input and feedback from the parties
concerned, the BCCI has given the go-ahead for this rule to be put into effect
in the IPL as well.
This is the second straight season in the IPL that
will see the introduction of a new rule before the start of the new season.
Last season saw the entry of the “Impact Player”, which meant that teams could
name 4 substitutes apart from the 11 and could choose any one of them to be
their impact player. While this rule gives the team the necessary batting or
bowling depth depending upon what situation they find themselves in, it has
also meant that the importance of all-rounders, who used to be a very pivotal
part in the previous editions of the IPL, has declined drastically.
However, the 2-bouncer rule has found support from the
bowling community, with Saurashtra and India test bowler Jaydev Unadkat
welcoming the rule. In a media interaction, he voiced his support to the rule
saying, “”I feel two bouncers an over is very much useful, and I feel it’s
one of those things which gives the bowler an added advantage over batsmen.
Because, for example, if I bowl a slower bouncer… the batsman in the previous
case is sure that there’s no more bouncer coming. In this case, even if you
bowl one slower bouncer in the first half of the over, you can still use one
more [in the over]. Someone who is weak against bouncers will have to be better
at it and then it will give the bowler one more weapon in their armoury. So, I
feel it’s a very small change with a huge impact and as a bowler I feel it’s
very important to have that rule.”
Unadkat added that fast bowlers will now have more
options to try and rein batters in at the death. “Also in the death overs,
you have one more option,” he said. “So, it was becoming more of
yorker-oriented [bowling] in death overs for fast bowlers. Not it can be
yorker, slower ball and bouncers because of two bouncers an over. Even if you
don’t bowl the second bouncer, the batsman still has that expectation that the
bowler might bowl the second bouncer.”