The much awaited / touted IPL is back again ! - today at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to field. Happy moment for CSK – though foreign stars Moeen Ali, Conway, Ben Stokes failed, Ruturaj Gaikwad was in sublime form hammering every thing away. Mercurial MS Dhoni stoked a six and four !
Ruturaj was out rather a wrong decision caught by Shubman Gill off Alzarri Joseph having made 92 off mere 50 with 9 sixers and 4 boundaries. The replays suggested that the ball was hit when it was more than waist high but some tech-aid showing the trajectory showed it to be lower – and the TV umpire was heard saying that it is clearly below the waistline !! – all along I had belived that it is the point of impact that matters and not any projected trajectory !!
The law of Cricket states : Any delivery, which passes or would have passed, without pitching, above waist height of the striker standing upright at the popping crease, is unfair. Whenever such a delivery is bowled, the umpire shall call and signal No ball.
Today is the 1st match of 2023 Indian Premier League (TATA IPL 2023) - the 16th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), owned and operated by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The season schedule will return to its original home and away format after a period of four years. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic the previous three seasons were held at neutral venues.
Today following the introduction of the Impact Player rule, Chennai's Tushar Deshpande was the first utilised impact player, replacing Ambati Rayudu in their match against Gujarat Titans.
In the present tournament, teams are divided in two groups (A and B). Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals, Lucknow SuperGiants are in Group A – Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gujarat Titans, Royal Challenders Bangalore, Punjab Kings are in Group B. Each team will play 7 home and away games, facing the opposite group's teams twice. Teams within the same group will play against each other once. A total of seventy games will be organized throughout the country in 12 stadiums and there are to be matches in Chepauk too.
The DRS or Umpire decision review system is used in all IPL matches - each team having two chances to review an on-field umpire's decision per innings. From this season, players can review wide and no balls, which is not the case in other men's cricket tournaments. If the bowling team doesn't completed its overs in allocated time, then they can have only 4 fielder outside 30 yard field for the remainder of the innings.
There is the substitute rule, called Impact player - Teams can use a substitute, which termed as an "Impact player". For this the teams have to handover list of five players as probable substitutes to the match referee. Teams can declare their squads and list of Impact players after the toss, albeit all five players must have to be Indian. This rule IPL has borrowed from Football and NBA. Both the participating teams can introduce substitute once in a match. If a batter got out and bowling team decides to make substitute in middle of the over then the substitute bowler cannot ball remaining balls of that over. The replaced player further can not take any part in the match, not even as substitute fielder. Teams can introduce a foreign player as substitute if they have included less than 4 foreign players in the team. After fall of wickets the new batter always have to take the strike.
Kane Williamson was forced off the field 13 overs into his Gujarat Titans debut, against Chennai Super Kings, after injuring his right knee. He had done the damage while fielding on the deep-square leg boundary, where he had leapt brilliantly to intercept a ball headed for six off Ruturaj Gaikwad's bat. He managed to save two runs, palming the ball into the field of play before it bounced onto the boundary boards, but by that point Williamson was on the ground clutching his right knee. Gujarat Titans brought B Sai Sudharsan on as substitute fielder.
Kane has good memories of Motera as he made his debut in 2013, becoming New Zealand's youngest player to hit a century on Test debut.
Elsewhere, Hundred draft saw 30 men's players picked across the eight teams, with Welsh Fire strengthening significantly after a winless 2022 season. Their new coach Michael Hussey used the first pick of the draft to select Tom Abell - after Tim David returned to Southern Brave via their Right-To-Match (RTM) card - then secured the services of Pakistan's pace duo Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf, as well as the all-round skills of David Willey.
The Hundred is a professional franchise 100-ball cricket tournament involving eight men's and eight women's teams located in major cities across England and Wales. The tournament is run by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
England great James Anderson expressed surprise that Pakistan skipper Babar Azam went unsold in this year’s The Hundred draft. While speaking in BBC’s Tailender Podcast, Anderson said that he would have spent the “entire budget” to make sure that Babar Azam was in his side. Babar, who entered the draft with a reserve price of £100,000, didn’t find any takers in the draft. Alongside Babar, his compatriot Mohammad Rizwan were also unsuccessful in finding teams.
Interesting !
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
31.3.2023
