By Shubham Dalmia on 9th August 2020
The much-awaited period is over and the IPL is going to start from 19th September to 10th November and it’s going to be played in UAE. This is the news every Indian and cricket fans were waiting for and now the wait is over and every fans are eagerly waiting for the day when the first ball is a gonna bowl. But there are some changes this year that teams will not stay in hotels and every team should stay in separate place whether it’s the resorts or the apartment and every team are allowed to have 24 players in there squad and there will be 10 doubleheaders this year. On the day of doubleheaders, the first match is going to be played from 3:30 pm IST and 2nd match from 7:30 pm IST and the remaining days all the match is going to be played from 7:30 pm. There are some protocols which every team have to follow.
While players and team support staff need to undergo at least 5 mandatory Covid-19 PCR tests before even entering the bio-secure environment in the UAE and undergo a test every 5th day during the tournament, they also have to undergo daily temperature checks and answer health questionnaires. Every team has been directed to have a medical team that will take care of the daily routines.
According to the matchday SOPs, players will be allowed to train and compete only if they have a ‘normal temperature and health status questionnaire’. If they do not, he or she will be subjected to Covid-19 test.
The BCCI will follow ICC guidelines for handling cricket balls during IPL in the wake of the pandemic. As per ICC protocols, players can’t apply saliva on the ball. Post-match routines are going to look different as well. There is no customary handshake allowed between teams after the match.
Toss and drinks break guidelines
The BCCI advises players and support staff to maintain social distancing even on the field of play. At the toss, electronic team sheets will be handed instead of captains exchanging printed sheets.12th man and plates will wash their hands before and after the drinks break while players use ‘named drink bottles and towels’ to avoid sharing.
As we know IPL is known for producing young talents whether they are Indian players or overseas players, but the one disadvantage I think is that youngsters who are coming in this year IPL who have performed in U-19 level or in the domestic circuit will not get adequate chance to prove themselves because they are an inexperienced player for this level of cricket and second they are not used to play outside India.
Disadvantage for Young Talents this year.
There is not much difference in the UAE and India pitch, but still, Indian pitch is more suitable for the batsmen. Let’s start with spinners, In India, boundary lines are shorter than UAE so the batting looks very easy here in India and even 200+ runs can be chased easily here, but in UAE the pitch is suitable for the spinner and they have got a long boundary, so the young spinners like Ravi Bishnoi who has done excellent in the U-19 world cup and also played well for Haryana in the domestic circuit and also spinners like Riyan Parag, Varun Chakravarthy, Sai Kishore who can easily flight the ball, which is missing in India because the boundary line is short and bowlers is not comfortable to flight the ball. But the question is the franchise or team management will take the chance of playing them because they are not that experience who can play in this condition and every team has got a bunch of experienced spinners in their side.
After spinners, it’s time for fast bowlers. As we all know it’s always a treat to watch when every time a fast bowler comes and run fast and bowl fast, and they also have got one of the most difficult jobs to do in the T20 format especially bowling in the death over where bowlers get slaughtered by the batsmen in a very bad manner. And IPL has produced fast bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep saini and many, and this year many good young fast bowlers have come in the likes of Karthik Tyagi, Akash Singh, Tushar Deshpande and one big name Kamlesh Nagarkoti who have create a big impact in 2018 u-19 world cup and there he showed how quick he can bowl but for two consecutive years he has been sidelined for injuries, but this year he is ready to go, but the main question is still the same whether they will get the chance of playing because they have got no experience of playing in UAE, and every fast bowler will be grateful to bowl there because of the size of ground where the top edge will not go for the sixes whereas in India miss time shot easily goes out of the ground.
After the seamers, it’s time for the batsmen. Every year IPL produces incredible batting talents, whether it is Rishabh Pant, Ambati Rayudu, power hitters like Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya or top-order batsmen like Surya Kumar Yadav, Manish Pandey and many more, the batsmen list will never finish. This year I think the chance of young batting talent like Yashaswi Jaiswal, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh and many, who are going to be part of IPL for the first time will not get many opportunities because they are not at all used to the conditions of UAE and second in compare to bowlers the chance of playing is less compare to them. Because a team can give the chance to bowlers whether it is a spinner or a seam bowler because as I mentioned earlier, the size of the ground and pitch is suitable for the bowlers to bowl with freedom compare to India. And for the batsmen, it will be little difficult to score there because the advantage for the bowler is always a disadvantage to the batsmen.
And the last thing I want to mention to the viewers that the experienced player like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan etc, and also overseas players like David Warner, Steve Smith, De kock, Du Plessis and many whether they are bowler or batsmen they haven’t played any competitive cricket for about 5-6 months, so the Franchise and team management will be looking to play there experienced player more because they want to bring the best players in their rhythm because their first priority is to win their games. So the chance of young fresh talents playing is very less and this year we may not see many young players build a big name this time. But since it’s the IPL it is going to be a festival like every year. Countdown Begins.
THAT CRICKET GUY 