The concept of “Power Player” during an IPL match could be discussed during Wednesday’s (November 6) governing council meeting in Mumbai but the final call regarding the same will be taken by the newly-elected BCCI president Sourav Ganguly.
As per a report published in PTI, a senior executive of the IPL operations team prepared a note some months ago with an intention to get rid of the traditional playing XI.
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According to the note, a “Power Player” concept will enable teams to substitute a player at the fall of a wicket or replace a bowler at any given point of time.
“The final call will rest with the BCCI president. He will certainly discuss with the IPL GC including chairman Brijesh Patel and other office bearers but a lot of factors needs to be taken into account,” a senior BCCI functionary told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Commenting on this fresh idea, a source close to the BCCI president said that it could change the grammar of cricket and thus there is a lot of uncertainty.
“Nothing has been decided yet. Also with four days left for Mushtaq Ali to begin, can this concept see the light of the day as yet? We don’t know yet,” the source said.
A section among IPL operations team wants to introduce the concept during Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (Domestic T20 Tournament), starting November 9. However, there is a section in the BCCI that believes it could specifically favour one particular high-profile franchise comprising veteran players.
“There is one particular team which needs a bit of cushion during 2020 IPL with the average age of its core players being 35 plus. Has the IPL operations guy, who prepared the concept note, kept that particular franchise in mind?” questioned another official.
The other issue that has emerged is how the anti-corruption unit will be able to tackle the bookie-fixer menace in case of such a rule change.
“These kinds of random player substitutions could mean that bookies and match-fixers will be working overtime. Guess the BCCI president will factor it in that also,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
