New Delhi: The 16th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to kick off on Friday with a grand opening ceremony, followed by a fierce encounter between defending champions Gujarat Titians and four-times champion Chennai Super Kings. The sporting extravaganza has created a lot of buzz & excitement because this will be first full-fledged tournament being played all across the country. Covid-19 unsettled all the schedules in past few years. Though, last year, IPL matches were held here but were restricted to just two venues. Apart from mega buzz, the IPL 2023 is also making news for changes in rules for the game. From this season, three new rules are being introduced and as expected, they would add more zing & firepower to the high-voltage Twenty20 format. 1) Impact Player The most important rule is about Impact player. This will provide all 10 teams a chance to replace any on-field player with a substitute player, at any point of the game. However, the criteria for Impact player differs for Indian & foreign players. Any Indian player can become ‘Impact/substitute player’ but for foreign players, the option will be available only when team hasn’t used the full quota in Playing XI. 2) Starting line-up after toss This is another big change being introduced this season. Team captains have been given the freedom to declare starting line-ups after toss, unlike earlier. The captains will have flexibility to decide the line-up depending upon toss results, whether they are fielding or batting. The cricket fraternity though remains divided on this rule as many believe that this will hamper player’s performance and will make the game ‘hostage to toss’. Many argue that this will practically rule out all-rounders from the game. 3) Time Penalty This is another rule change in upcoming season, however this is tried & tested in other formats of game. As per this rule, the fielding side will have to ‘pay the price’ for delay in bowling. It says that if bowling side fails to finish overs in stipulated time, the fielders outside the 30-yard circle will be curtailed. Such practice is prevalent in ODI format & also T20 Internationals. Change in Telecast pattern is also drawing many eyeballs. For the first time in IPL history, there will two different broadcasters for telecasting the game on Television while doing LIVE streaming on OTT platforms. Disney Star bought the TV broadcasting rights for 5 years, starting from 2023 while for digital streaming, Viacom 18 has the rights for 5 years.
