Cricket News

Relief for bowlers as new rule comes into effect for IPL 2024

In a significant change in rule, IPL 2024 will allow bowlers two bouncers per over. This tweak, following its trial run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, seeks to address the dominance of batsmen in T20 cricket. The rule comes as a relief for bowlers as they gain a wider arsenal of deliveries to keep the batsmen guessing. They can mix up bouncers with other variations, making it harder for batsmen to predict and counter each ball.

The rule has already gained support from Jaydev Unadkat, who represented India in 22 games across the formats. Unadkat, a veteran IPL campaigner threw his weight behind rule, citing that the small change will go on to have a massive impact.

“I do feel two bouncers an over is very much useful, and I feel it’s one of those things which gives the bowler an added advantage over batsmen,” Unadkat said while speaking to ESPNcricinfo. “Because, for example, if I bowl a slower bouncer, the batsman in the previous case is sure that there’s no more bouncer coming. In this case, even if you bowl one slower bouncer in the first half of the over, you can still use one more. Someone, who is weak against bouncers will have to be better at it and then it will give the bowler one more weapon in their armoury. So, I feel it’s a very small change with a huge impact and as a bowler I feel it’s very important to have that rule.”

Impact Player rule stays