NEW DELHI: The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League(IPL) is all set to commence on 19 September. In normal situation, the tournament would had played in the month of April-May, however, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the schedule has been postponed this year. IPL, which is played in India every year, has also been shifted to UAE as coronavirus outbreak continues to outgrow across India.
The IPL Governing Council has given the green signal to the tournament after releasing several mandatory guidelines to be followed throughout this season.
Saliva ban: Saliva is usually used to swing the ball in cricket but this time due to the corona virus, players are asked to not to use it. Earlier, the ICC also banned the use of saliva to shine the ball due to the risk of virus. Each team will be warned twice and in the third time, 5 runs will be added to the opposition team’s account as penalty.
Unlimited Corona Substitute: Due to the increasing infection of corona, provision has been made for the Unlimited Corona Substitute and that is, if a player gets infected with the virus during the tournament, the team will be able to replace him with another player.
Third umpire to monitor no balls: For the first time in the IPL, this rule has been introduced. Last year, these rules were trialed in the India-West Indies ODI series. Under this rule, the bowlers will have front-foot no-balls exclusively monitored by the third umpires.
Double header: This time double header is kept for 10 days that means there will be 2 matches in 1 day.
Early Match Timings: The matches will start half an hour earlier than their usual time this year. In IPL 2020, the games will begin at 7:30 instead of 8.
