The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to put a limit on practice sessions for the Indian Premier League (IPL) teams ahead of the new season. According to the new directive, teams can have no more than seven sessions while only two warm-up matches will be permitted. The new rules were conveyed to the IPL sides through a BCCI note which also asked the host grounds to allow the usage of the facilities any local games, legends leagues or celebrity tournaments.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!According to a report by Cricbuzz, the decisions were taken ” in view of the venues taking load during domestic matches, being played close to the start of the IPL season”. The new season will begin on March 22 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata as Kolkata Knight Riders will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
“In advance of the first match of the season and as set out in the Stadium Agreement, teams may have up to seven (7) practice sessions of up to three (3) hours in duration under floodlights, of which two (2) can be practice matches or open nets as decided by the team. The practice matches to take place on one of the side wickets of the main square. If a team is playing a practice match under lights, the duration of the match should not exceed more than three and a half hours. As per the Operational Rules, practice matches require the prior written approval of the BCCI,” the BCCI note said.
“In order to prepare the pitch for the season, no practice sessions or practice matches may be played on the main square in the four (4) days leading up to the relevant franchisee’s first home match of the season. However, 1 side wicket per team will be provided for range hitting on these days. During this period, if requested by the home franchise, the State Association.”
The note from BCCI also recommended on how to deal with a situation where both sides want to practice at the same time ahead of their IPL encounter.
“In the event that the home and away teams wish to practice at the same time, BCCI will ask the two Team Managers to try and resolve the double booking – either by one of the teams taking another session or by the two teams sharing the session. In the event that the two teams cannot resolve the double booking, BCCI will determine the practice times having considered the requests of both teams with the likely outcome that two 2 hour slots are created thereby giving both teams similar playing conditions with exclusive use of the ground (e.g. 18.00 – 20.00 & 20.00 – 22.00).”
from: NDTV Sports-Latest