In a move to felicitate an even contest between bat and ball, the IPL has allowed bowlers to bowl two bouncers per over from the upcoming edition. The said change in the playing conditions was first trialled during the latest season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) – India’s domestic T20 tournament.

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With the introduction of this new rule, bowlers will now have the leverage to attack more instead of going defensive with their line and lengths in fear of leaking runs at any stage. Domestic giant and Saurashtra veteran Jaydev Unadkat (priced at INR 50 lakh at the IPL 2024 Auction) welcomes this move, saying it allows bowlers a much-needed advantage over batters in this batting-dominating format.

“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 told ESPNcricinfo. 

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“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 [in the over],” Unadkat added.

The left-arm seamer said an extra bouncer is an added weapon in a bowler’s armoury, and though it’s a small change, it will have a major impact come IPL 2024. 

“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,” Jaydev added.

Tilt towards bringing in balance

Last year, the Impact-Player rule was introduced in IPL, taking the cricket world by storm.

During the toss, every team must name four players under the ‘Impact Players’ category, with the franchise allowed to use just one of them during any stage in the match. 

However, if said team had already picked four overseas players in their XI, they can only use an Indian player coming in as a substitute, replacing anyone from the line-up.

Meanwhile, these changes were introduced to trigger the fairness and balance between bat and ball. 

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