A wish list for IPL 2013

With IPL 2012 out of the way, we can throw out the big talk about the big league for another year. For another year, international cricket will be central to the global cricketing scene. While it lasted, this IPL, in my, and many others’, opinion, was the best one of them all. As one of the columns on ESPNcricinfo very correctly pointed out, this IPL was a true success because of its high cricketing quality – of course, it also had the other stuff, but cricket was the key show-stealer.

For each of the three main skills in cricket, there was high quality stuff: Chris Gayle’s dominance, Narine and Murali’s magic off the wicket, and Steyn and Morkel’s venom. All that said, IPL 2013 can be better in various ways. After all, the league is only five seasons old and will get more refined as the seasons go by.

Here’s my wish list for the next season:

Loaning system I can’t emphasise enough how much the IPL needs this. So many teams have players they do not need, warming the benches, while those very players could be game-changers for other teams. A loaning system would make the league more entertaining and the games exciting. For example, Deccan Chargers would have dearly “borrowed” Abu Nechim from Mumbai, due to the former’s lack of decent Indian bowlers, especially after Ishant’s injury. Mumbai didn’t end up playing Abu at all, because they already had the likes of Munaf, Dhawal Kulkarni and RP Singh. Other players who would have ended up playing for other teams were Abhinav Mukund, Suryakumar Yadav and Wriddhiman Saha among others. The system cant ensure that all viable trades will happen, but will allow an opportunity for players to get off the fringes. Yes, an argument can be made - why would a team would be interested in making another team stronger?The answer to that would be, the money they get from loaning out their player can be used in the next auction. This would be a perfect incentive for trading players because all three parties – the two teams and the player – would have something to gain.

A revamped format The IPL is too long, many feel, as a recent poll on this site revealed. A way to make it shorter - dump the double round robin. Teams should play each other only once. Eight games for each team, to begin with. Then, during the playoffs, the first eliminator should be in the home-away format, with one home and one away game. If each team wins a game apiece, the result from the league stage should be used as the tie-breaker. The games should be played on alternate days. The play-offs will be considerably longer, and that’s fine. A longer play-off would ensure that teams are being rewarded for their consistency and having one bad day doesn’t wipe off a month’s good work. Also, they should try to fit in a ‘finalist versus league stage all-star game’. Using this year’s standings as an example, the playoffs will take eight days. The possibility of a best-of-three finals can be explored, too.

Give some to bowlers Seeing some of the ridiculously high quality bowling in this year’s IPL, I was left with the question: if batsmen have no limit on the number of overs they can bat, why is there one on bowlers? Well, those are rules, and that’s fine; you need rules up to a point. But four overs are too few. Watch Dale Steyn’s spells against Mumbai (in both the games) and you’ll know what I mean. The IPL should allow one bowler to bowl a maximum of five overs. And if they want to be too radical, then why not have consecutive overs? If the bowler has the fitness to bowl successive overs, then reward him.

Get rid of the free-hit anomaly Seriously, this is not just for the IPL, but for all limited-overs internationals. Data reveals that the introduction of the free-hit rule has decreased the number of front-foot no-balls, which is great. But front-foot no-balls never were, are, or will be dangerous for the batsmen; the waist-high ones are. So, give a free-hit for the waist-high no-balls as well. The aim should be to decrease the dangerous no-balls, not the innocuous ones.

No time-out, please While I would love to have the IPL without the frivolous strategic time-out, I understand it’s necessary for the sponsors, so it would be unrealistic to see that going away some time soon. I said frivolous, not because I don’t like waiting 150 seconds for the game to resume, but it really is momentum breaker in some cases, and – again – frivolous at other times, like in the Mumbai v Bangalore game in Bangalore.