By 
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season is turning out to be quite a tournament because of a variety of factors.
There have been a mixed of tall scores and low scores, some exhilarating batting performances, and some good bowling spells. There have also been some great fielding efforts from some of the best.
But unfortunately, there are still a few issues with this season that need urgent attention. The chief amongst them is the following:
· Pitches
· Umpiring
· Over-rates
We have thus far found that the pitches have been up and down across the country. Some of the older venues have produced belters which have helped the batters to prosper. Some of the venues up north have been difficult for the batters to cope with.
The turners at Lucknow for example has proved to be a death knell for batters of the home side. The Lucknow Super Giants for example have found it difficult to chase down targets on the low, slow pitches obtained at the Ekana Stadium.
This inconsistency in pitches needs to be looked at by the BCCI. With more than two billion dollars at stake, it would make sense for the BCCI to get the best soil experts, and pitch experts from around the world to help with preparing the 22 yards before the tournament.
You cannot have a billion plus dollar property being ruined by lack of attention to the most important component of the tournament. At the moment it seems the BCCI is paying little or no attention to this issue.
The other big problem is the umpiring standards during the tournament. In the early years we had the best match officials from around the globe manning the tournament. It is all very well to have local umpires and seeking to upgrade their skills, but there comes a time when the best are playing the best and need to officiate the games.
The concept of having local officials who depend on validation from the administrators in charge of IPL games is fraught with danger. The BCCI needs to move in fast and have the best from around the world manning the games with the local Indian officials tailing them.
Then there is also the issue of over-rates which has caused the matches to finish closer to midnight almost every day. No one seems to care about the paying public or for the viewing audience. The commentators, part of the BCCI world feed, keep mum and the official broadcasters are mum because of obvious reasons. There needs to be more examination of this issue, but unfortunately seems to care about it. A typical T20 game is supposed to end in three and a half hours at the most. Even if you have allowance for strategic timeouts, you cannot have games taking four and a half hours to finish.
Someone needs to get a fix of this issue.
Fines are clearly not going to cut it. They have been fining captains and teams, it will not work. What needs to happen is that the teams need to be penalised in terms of overs and runs.
So, for example: Team bowling first bowls only 15 overs within a stipulated time, while chasing they should get only 15 overs to chase. Similarly, the team bowling second does not bowl their quota of overs on time, 10-15 penalty runs should be added to the team batting. For a tournament considered to be the best in the world, the solutions to fight slow over-rates must be creative.
Finally, the behaviour of players needs to be checked but in a stronger way. What happened at Lucknow with Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir going head-to-head, needed a stronger punishment than what was meted out. That will only come from stronger match officials.
All these are noble thoughts but won’t happen any time soon, because we all love the status quo.
Comments