The IPL 2024 match between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Delhi Capitals (DC) in Jaipur on Thursday (March 28) came to a halt at one point when the visiting team’s head coach Ricky Ponting argued with the reserve umpire.
Ponting was seen having an animated conversation with the match official regarding the confusion surrounding RR’s fourth overseas player entering the pitch.
Royals, who had three overseas stars in their starting XI — Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, and Trent Boult — brought in Rovman Powell as a substitute fielder at the start of the second innings. Earlier, Nandre Burger had come in as an impact substitute for Hetmyer.
Ponting seemed to be questioning how RR can start with three overseas players but field a total of five. The reserve umpire was seen clarifying the decision with the DC coach.
According to the rules, RR did nothing wrong as they fielded only four overseas players at the given time since Powell was the substitute fielder and Hetmyer was not on the field.
Let’s take a look at the IPL rules on overseas players:
Rule 1.2.5 states that each team may not name more than 4 Overseas players in its starting eleven for any match.
Rule 1.2.6 states that a team may not have more than 4 Overseas players on the field of play at any time during any match. Thus, if the team names the maximum 4 Overseas players in its starting XI, an Overseas player may only take the field as a substitute fielder if the player that he is replacing is an Overseas player. If the team names less than 4 Overseas players in its starting XI, Overseas players may only enter the field of play as substitute fielders to the extent that by doing so, they do not take the total number of Overseas players representing that team on the field to more than 4.
Coming to the match, Rajasthan Royals registered a convincing 12-run victory over Delhi Capitals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
Invited to bat first, RR piled up 185/5 in their allotted 20 overs on the back of Riyan Parag’s 84 not out off 45 balls.
In reply, DC managed to post 173/5 on the board. While the likes of David Warner (49 off 34) and Tristan Stubbs (44* off 23) played good knocks, they didn’t get enough support to chase down the target.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal starred with the ball for Rajasthan, returning with the figures of 2/19 in his three overs.
Brief Scores:
Rajasthan Royals - 185/5 in 20 overs (Riyan Parag 84*; R Ashwin 29; Akshar Patel 1-21) defeated Delhi Capitals - 173/5 in 20 overs (David Warner 49; Tristan Stubbs 44*; Yuzvendra Chahal 2/19) by 12 runs
