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IPL is losing the game of the clock
Far too many delays are pushing the 20-over format to almost four hours routinely.
“Let’s speed up the pace of play #IPL2023”
At 8:13 pm on April 3, Jos Buttler knew he was in for a long night of cricket when he tweeted the above words. He wasn't alone. Millions of fans around the country and beyond were thinking the exact same thing. And they weren’t wrong either. By the time the last ball in the high-scoring match between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Lucknow Super Giants was bowled -- the clock had ticked past the 11:30 pm mark. Four hours for a game that has routinely been touted as anything but that.
The first game of the IPL season between CSK and Gujarat Titans lasted over four hours as well. The CSK innings lasted 119 minutes and the GT innings 101 minutes. It established an unhealthy trend that continues to trouble fans and players alike (if not those playing, those watching for sure).
Teams have to start bowling the 20th over before the stipulated time limit of 90 minutes ends. If a team is behind the over rate, the bowling team will be allowed to have only four fielders outside the 30-yard circle for every over not completed within the allocated time. This happened to CSK against LSG, but does it really hurt them? Just as we would wonder whether the fines that were in place previously hurt the team.
This season saw the introduction of several new initiatives by IPL and all of that isn't helping either. Reviews for no-balls and wides are adding to the delays as is the short break for the impact players. This, of course, is in addition to the repeat offenders -- strategic timeouts and mid-pitch conferences. All of it adds up and not in the way anyone appreciates. The extended hours are a problem IPL has been dealing with for a while but despite introducing measures to curb the malaise, it very much seems to be a losing battle at this point.
The IPL season is chock-a-block as it is. The games, scheduled daily, already make fatigue an issue for fans and the longer games can't be helping their cause.
Learning the ropes?
Well, for starters, they could get every bowler to bowl like Ravindra Jadeja. Now, that isn't realistic but the left-arm spinner shows it is possible to bowl your overs quickly.
One solution could be to take a page out of basketball’s book, where in the National Basketball Association you have 24 seconds between two shots. This ensures that players find a way to play the game at a good tempo.
Tennis has its own variation of the rule. While rules call for players to take a maximum of 25 seconds between points, the shot clock only starts when the umpire calls the score, allowing officials to permit long points for crowd excitement. This leads to controversy from time to time and Rafael Nadal certainly has had a thing or two to say about it in the past.
Major League Baseball is trying to up the pace as well. The innings would sometimes seemingly go on and on. So, this season, a new pitch clock has been introduced. With the bases empty, pitchers now have 15 seconds to start their motion; with a runner on, they have 20 seconds.
The interesting bit is the punishment doled out for delays. If they take longer than the allowed time, they will be assessed a ball — meaning, in some cases, an umpire-awarded walk for the batter. Batters aren't exempt either now and are required to be ready by the time the clock counts down to eight seconds; violators will be assessed a strike, and if it’s the third strike, a strikeout. This will also give umpires something to do during the game as for everything else, there is the TV umpire.
What can IPL do?
The MLB rules hit teams where it hurt. IPL has to find a way to do the same. Allowing just four fielders outside the circle is a step in the right direction but isn't enough. Delays need to cost runs or at least result in free hits. It has to become the kind of offence that teams will think twice before committing; one that may even cost them the match.
Multiple offenders might even have to play the next match without their skippers. Imagine CSK without Dhoni or Gujarat without Pandya. It would hurt. Do that and see how things start to fall into place. As things stand, though, it isn't enough to force a rethink.
Some might argue that this will take away from the game. It should be about skill and not time. But just as bowling 10 overs in an hour didn't help Test cricket, neither does this. The 15-over stipulation is fair and it asks teams to step it up as professionals should. Do the strategising during the strategic time-outs (surely that break can be for more than just ads) and then trust the bowlers. Make the adjustments quickly, figure out the options quicker and maybe the matches will start ending on time as well.
Time, they say, waits for no one. That should hold true in IPL too.
