The biggest rule has to do with impact players, giving teams the opportunity to bring in a substitute player at any time during this IPL season.
Posted on – Thu, 30 Mar 23 at 02:16pm
New Delhi: The usual ranks of global cricket stars like Virat Kohli and Ben Stokes will be boosted by so-called impact players in the latest innovation in the Indian Premier League season 16.
The biggest and richest franchise tournament in the sport kicks off on Friday with defending champions Gujarat Titans taking on four-time champions Chennai Super Kings. The 2023 competition will be a mix of old and new, with a return to home and away for a first stage of 70 games, followed by four knockout matches.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused various scheduling issues for the groundbreaking Twenty20 tournament. The second half of the 2020 IPL, which was suspended in mid-April due to the coronavirus surge, was played in the United Arab Emirates in September. The entire 2021 tournament has been played in the UAE, and last year, the competition returned to India, but with restrictions, all games were played in Mumbai or Pune until the knockout stage, when the venues were moved to Kolkata and Ahmedabad.
So, with the IPL homecoming for all 10 franchises, there was a huge resonance among Indian cricket fans. For context, the initial sale of 65,000 tickets for the season opener between Gujarat and Chennai in Ahmedabad was sold out within hours. The 135,000-seat stadium is expected to sell out.
The Titans, led by Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya, won the championship in their inaugural season. The team boasts the world’s foremost T20 bowler, Rashid Khan, and has been further revitalized by the introduction of former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. Fans in Ahmedabad, like millions across India, were hoping to catch a glimpse of ex-India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a key figure in Chennai Super Kings.
Dhoni, 41, will lead again after a failed attempt to change captain last year and speculation is growing that this will be his final season. Chennai will field a stronger team alongside England’s Test captain Stokes and all-rounder Moeen Ali. Another England player in the spotlight is all-rounder Sam Curran, who missed the 2022 IPL due to injury but returns to the Punjab Kings as the most expensive player in 15 years.
He was the man of the match for the 2022 T20 World Cup, which England won. Allrounder Cameron Green is in the IPL for the first time with the Mumbai Indians after being instrumental for Australia in their recent trip to India.
The five-time champion Mumbai Indians, bottom of the league in 2022, snapped up Green in one of the most lucrative deals at player auctions this year. In addition to new players, there are many new rules for the 2023 season. The biggest rule has to do with influencing players, giving teams the opportunity to bring in substitutes at any time during a game.
Any Indian player can play the role of Impact Player, while an overseas player can only fill the role if the team has not used up all of their quota in the starting XI. As a standard rule, IPL teams can include up to four overseas players in their starting lineup. To that end, the rules surrounding the coin toss have changed.
Captains can now confirm starting lineups after the throw rather than before, depending on whether they bat first or bowl first. Not everyone is convinced this is the best way forward. “The rule pretty much negates the role of the all-rounder,” said Derry Capitals coach and former Australia captain Richie Ponting.
“Unless they’re absolutely world-class and picked up as a batsman or bowler and not some piecemeal guy, I don’t think we’ll see a lot of teams this season really using all-rounders and they might be in 7 number and a bowl or two. Because you don’t need those guys anymore.”
In another important change, a time penalty was introduced to control rates. As with International T20 and One-Day International cricket, if a fielder fails to catch the ball within the allotted time, the number of fielders outside the 30-yard circle will be reduced. The IPL will also break new ground in its broadcasting. For the first time in Indian cricket, two different broadcasters will be involved in showing the action to viewers.
The Disney star retains TV rights for the period 2023-2027, while Viacom 18 enters the market with digital rights for the same five-year cycle, providing the Indian Cricket Control Board, which runs the IPL, with a value of about 6 billion. dollar transactions.
