IPL 2: Rules to Game

The Indian Premier League in Season 2 is ruling the roost in South Africa, but some of the rules applicable to the T20 cricket games being played are not quite game.

Just what is achieved by having the 'strategic time out' breaks in every innings of every game? What is so strategic about this? Maybe this is needed for generating more commercial revenue and more hype. Because this is not needed for any cricketing reasons. The strategic time out is taken after every ten overs in an innings of twenty overs. The players cannot be tired in just ten overs. Normal drinks breaks are taken after every one hour in Tests and after every 15-17 overs in one-day internationals (ODI). But those breaks are only for 2-3 minutes. There have been complaints from players and others against this rule and the IPL authorities had agreed to look into this after the season. But then, why it was introduced in the first place?

Duckworth and Lewis rule is applied in rain interrupted ODIs that uses very complicated calculations to set revised targets in reduced overs to arrive at a result. Earlier, for applying D/L method a minimum 25 overs had to be compulsorily bowled. Due to emergence of T20 cricket the minimum was reduced to 20. In IPL 2 the Delhi Daredevils won a match in less than 5 overs using D/L method. There seems to be no rule regarding minimum overs to be bowled for such games. So, it is a possibility that a team can win a match achieving a target set for just one ball when the weather gods permitted time enough for only a solitary ball. Though D/L method talks of minimum 5 overs in T20 the IPL rule book says nothing. Even a five over minimum is a mockery of cricket.

And, what about the sartorial cover code for the cheerleaders? There seems to be no rules either for determining this. Sometimes these gyrating damsels are clad quite decently while at times the dress gets reduced to the barest minimum!

A boisterous goodbye to cricketing rules?