The Indian Premier League beckons us all again, with the auction for the upcoming season to be held on Tuesday. Franchises will be looking to reinforce their squads with some pivotal purchases and also add more depth to certain departments.
It is also being reported that IPL 2024 will allow bowlers to deliver two bounces in an over. The new rule is being applied to make it an even contest between both bat and ball. It was also trialled during the 2023-24 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
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Jaydev Unadkat, who is an IPL veteran, praised the change and played for Saurashtra at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, he said, "I do 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," he further added.
{{/usCountry}}"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," he further added.
{{/usCountry}}The India pacer also feels that fast bowlers have more options in the death overs, with the new rule. "Also in the death overs, you have one more option. 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," he added.