In a departure from the norm, on-field umpires have started making random checks on the dimensions of the bats during the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to prevent players from gaining an unfair advantage. Checking the bat dimensions is a prevalent protocol but till the last edition, the process was followed inside the confines of the dressing room. However, the BCCI, in its bid to stay more vigilant in times of brutal power-hitting, has allowed the match officials to check any piece of willow if they deem required, even during a live game.
A former BCCI umpire, who has officiated in more than 100 IPL games and many international matches, also expressed his surprise at the development.
“The umpires keep a house-shaped bat gauge. If the bat passes through that gauge, it is deemed acceptable. We have all performed bat checks before the start of the innings inside the dressing room. The players handover their willows and the check is done,” a former umpire told PTI conditions of anonymity.
“Now the question is, did any player provide one bat for check and used another on the field? If that has happened, then this protocol is welcome. The players always carry multiple bats. While the weight can vary, the height, width (bat face), depth (middle of blade) and width of the edge has to be within specified limits prescribed by the ICC,” he added.
As per specified dimensions, the width of bat face should not exceed 4.25 inches (10.79 cm). The thickness of the middle of the bat (bulged part) can’t exceed 2.64 inches (6.7 cm).
The maximum width of the edge can’t surpass 1.56 inch (4 cm). The height of the bat can’t be more than 38 inches (96.4 cm) from top of handle to the base.
In the past few days, Rajasthan Royals’ Shimron Hetmyer, RCB’s Phil Salt and Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya’s bats were measured with a bat gauge on the Field Of Play (FOP).
For the record, all bats cleared the test.
The BCCI however was tight-lipped when asked if there was a violation of willow dimension, prompting the random checks.
A little extra thickness or a bit more wood on the edge makes hell lot of a difference these days where even mis-hits soar into the night sky and end up 10 rows into the stadium galleries at various grounds.
Before the start of Monday’s match between CSK and LSG, a total of 525 sixes have already been hit so far in the ongoing edition. West Indies’ batter Nicholas Pooran alone has hit 31 of them.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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