An uninterrupted game of T20 cricket shall end inside three and a half hours.
The ongoing IPL season has come under widespread criticism for the slow over-rates. Matches that are supposed to end inside three-and-a-half hours, have been taking close to four hours and sometimes more to finish even without any rain interruptions.
Two leaders - Rajasthan Royals skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma - have been imposed a penalty of Rs 12 lakh each for the same, but little else has been done to address the longstanding issue which now threatens to hurt the T20 viewership.
This is what Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming asked the BCCI and IPL governing council to be absolutely wary of. The former New Zealand batsman reckons something has to be done to eradicate the major problem.
"Yes, I think it's too slow," he said after CSK's game against Mumbai Indians at the post-match press conference on Wednesday (April 3). "It's got to be a collective shift from everyone concerned. There's a little bit of broadcasting as well, so you need to come back. Moisture (because of dew) plays its part, too. Wiping the ball is a consideration."
"Cricket, in general, is played at a pace below what it needs to be. Cricket needs to be speeded up in all forms of the game. If it puts pressure on captains and bowlers, so be it. We need to ask captains and bowlers to be a little bit surer in their plans," Fleming added.
During the MI versus CSK game which kickstarted at 8 pm IST and yet finished past midnight, even former England captain Michael Vaughan stressed upon the over-rate issue over Twitter and wrote,
Ex-Australian cricketer and Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Tom Moody replied to Vaughan and posted, "Simple solution, forget monetary fines, deduct from teams net run rate. Works in the @CPL, players quickly recognise the value of NRR when it comes to qualifying for playoffs!"
(Inputs from India Today)