In IPL 2024, a new rule change permits bowlers to deliver two bouncers per over, a departure from the previous restriction of one bouncer per over. This adjustment has already been experimented with in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Allowing bowlers to deliver two bouncers per over in IPL 2024 aims to create a more balanced competition between batsmen and bowlers. This change provides bowlers with flexibility, allowing them to use a bouncer early in the over while still having another at their disposal.
Although player safety considerations previously limited the number of bouncers, this rule adjustment, long suggested, is now being implemented.
The Impact Player rule, introduced in the previous IPL season, will continue in the upcoming edition. Teams will still need to present a list of four substitutes at the toss, alongside the playing XI, with any of the four substitutes eligible to be designated as the Impact Player during the match.
Tushar Deshpande of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) made history as the first Impact Player in the IPL, stepping in for Ambati Rayudu in the season opener against Gujarat Titans (GT). The IPL 2024 is expected to take place between March 22 and the end of May, with the mini-auction scheduled for Dubai on December 19.
“The allowance of two bouncers per over proves to be beneficial”- Jaydev Unadkat
Saurashtra and Indian left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat expressed his approval for the change from one to two bouncers per over in the IPL. The 32-year-old, with a base price of ₹50 lakh, has played for various franchises and shared his thoughts on the upcoming IPL 2024 auction.
“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. 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]. 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,” said Unadkat to ESPN Cricinfo.
The experienced fast bowler believes that the introduction of the two-bouncer-per-over rule will be advantageous for bowlers, especially in the death overs.
“Also in the death overs, you have one more option. So, it was becoming more of yorker-oriented [bowling] in death overs for fast bowlers.”
”Nowiit can be yorker, slower ball and bouncers because of two bouncers an over. Even if you don’t bowl the second bouncer, the batsman still has that expectation that the bowler might bowl the second bouncer,” stated Unadkat.
Last season, Unadkat represented Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) but struggled, going wicketless in three matches with an economy rate exceeding 11 runs per over. His performance has been inconsistent since his impressive 24-wicket haul in the 2017 season, accumulating only 35 wickets in 47 games.
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