Durban, May 14 (Inditop) The remaining Indian Premier League (IPL) matches will have the provision for an extra hour while the semi-finals and final will have two extra hours to complete rain-affected matches, the IPL’s technical committee has decided.
There will be no reserve days for the semi-finals and final.
The early stages of the tournament were affected by rain with two games being washed out and a few others being decided by the Duckworth-Lewis method.
The technical committee also decided Wednesday on some other changes that will be implemented with immediate effect.
A ball will be considered ‘dead’ if a batsman happens to hit the new age sky camera which travels over the ground on cables suspended overhead, the committee decided.
Substitute fielders will be permitted only in the event of injury, illness or other wholly acceptable reasons. The committee said it wants to ensure that substitutions should be limited to extreme circumstances and should not include what is commonly referred to as a ‘comfort break’.
The field umpires have been empowered to consult the third umpire in event of their having doubts about catches.
“Should both umpires be unable to make a decision, they may consult by a two-way radio with the third umpire. Following such consultation, the final decision will be made and given by the bowler’s end umpire, who will take into account the on-field umpires’ initial views and any other advice received from the third umpire,” the technical committee said.
This way there will be a lot more clarity and more chances of reducing human error. The third umpire so far has been employed to make calls on line decisions – run out, stumping or for judging boundaries.
rounak