The Indian Premier League (IPL) is into its 16th edition this year. There have already been some high-intensity close-fought matches that have gone right down to the wire. What makes things more interesting are the many new rules that have been announced this season.
One such rule is the slow over-rate penalty introduced this year to ensure the fielding side completes their overs within the scheduled time limit. Non-compliance with this rule leads to a penalty being imposed on the bowling team.
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Here is a detailed explanation of the new penalty for slow over-rate.
What is the time penalty for fielding sides in IPL 2023?
In IPL, a bowling team is given 90 minutes to bowl the entire innings. The 20th and final over of the innings should ideally start before the scheduled time is reached. However, often teams do not comply with the time limit and go beyond it.
This non-compliance with the time limit leading to a slow over-rate occurs due to various reasons. Sometimes the bowling team bowls too many extras (no balls and wides) or the fielding team changes their field setup to better combat the opposition. Often team skippers deliberately slow the over-rate to hamper the batsmen's rhythm.
To penalise teams for such antics, IPL has introduced a new rule which states that teams with slow over-rate can only field four players outside the 30-yard circle. Additionally, captains of teams on whom this penalty has been imposed will be fined a certain sum from their matchday earnings, as was the case with Sanju Samson of Rajasthan Royals.
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Why are only four players allowed outside the circle?
When fielding teams do not reach the final over of an IPL match before the scheduled 90-minute time limit, they are not allowed to position more than four players outside the 30-yard circle.
For instance, if a team has only bowled 18 overs till the 90-minute mark, for the remaining two overs they will have to field with only four players in the outer circle. This penalty gives an advantage to the batting team in the final overs, who have more spots available to them to clear the boundary now.