Former South Africa captain and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s senior player AB de Villiers has lent his voice to the growing chorus around hastening over rates in IPL 2019, stating the tournament “needs to get into the gym” to keep up with the dynamism of the format and ensure the matches finish within the stipulated three and a half hours.
Although captains have been penalised right through the IPL’s history for slow over rates, this season the problem has aggravated with several matches, mostly evening games, crossing over the stipulated time limit, stretching past the midnight while spanning over four hours.
According to the IPL playing conditions, each innings of the match should be wrapped up in 90 minutes including the two strategic time-outs that last two-and-a-half minutes each. That means a match needs to be over in 200 minutes. The conditions do permit some allowance in case a player is being tended to any injury or there is any delay due to any unforeseen reason.
If those kinds of delays happen in the first innings, the match officials have the liberty to adjust the interval to about 15 minutes, something that has happened in some instances this season.
However, de Villiers feels a clampdown is necessary. “There’s no shame involved, and it happens to everybody in middle age, but it’s important to stay in shape,” he wrote in his column for The Times of India. “Maybe the IPL needs to get into the gym. Matches are supposed to be completed within three-and-a-half hours, enough time for both innings, strategic time-outs and a break. However, in 2019, IPL games have been running for longer than four hours, with matches starting at 8 pm and finishing well past midnight.”
ALSO READ: Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody wants net-run-rate deduction for slow over rates
Having a 10-minute innings interval will force teams to expedite things and avoid examples like the Super Over between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders which de Villiers said finished at a “breakfast” time. “One easy fix could be to reduce the break between innings from the current 20 minutes to a manageable 10 minutes…When a super over had been completed to decide the match between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders, it felt as if it was time for breakfast.”
Currently, the IPL only hands out monetary fines for over-rate offences. Three captains have copped fines of INR 12 lakh (approx. $17,300) so far this season: Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s slow over rate against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, and Ajinkya Rahane for Rajasthan Royals’ tardiness in their away game against Chennai Super Kings.
De Villiers underscored that monetary penalty or suspension handed out to the erring captain is hardly ever a deterrent. “There is a system in place whereby the captain is penalised if his team fails to maintain the required over rate while bowling,” de Villiers wrote. “This involves a fine for the first offence followed by suspension, but the impact of these measures appears minimal, roughly equivalent to the weight loss of an obese gentleman who orders to giant hamburgers and a diet Coke!”
A fortnight ago, Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody had come up with a suggestion, borrowed from the Caribbean Premier League, to improve the over rates in the IPL.
“Simple solution, forget monetary fines, deduct from teams net run rate,” he had tweeted, in response to a complaint from the former England captain Michael Vaughan that IPL games were taking too long to finish.
Stephen Fleming, the Chennai Super Kings head coach, had also urged captains and broadcasters to show urgency, “so, collectively, the whole thing could be sped up,” otherwise, “reaching up close to four hours”, Fleming had said, is “defeating the purpose of the short game.”
Source: ESPN Crickinfo