The Premier Badminton League (PBL) will see the introduction of a ‘Trump Match’, a rule which could prove to be the game changer when the 16-day long event gets underway on January 2.
There will be five matches in a tie and every team will have the option of selecting one of these matches as their ‘Trump Match’, in which, a victory would give the team a bonus point and a loss a negative point.
In another minor rule modification, each match will take in consideration the best of three Games and each game will be played for 15 points and a sudden death at 14 all.
Speaking on the new format, Akhilesh Das Gupta, Badminton Association of India President and PBL Chairman said: “The idea behind introducing the new rules is to make the League more competitive.
“The new format will keep each team on the edge as each day will produce a new result and might put different teams on a better position vis-a-vis the positions that they were a day earlier. So no team can take any day lightly as one wrong move will prove tables changing for them.”
According to the ‘Trump Match’ rules, both teams will specify which of the five matches will be their respective Trump Match along with the list of players at least one hour before the start of the tie with the Referee. It is fine that both the teams can have their Trumps in the same match.
In a Trump Match, the team that has called for the Trump gets two points for win and minus one point for loss. However, the other team will play this match as a normal match. If both the teams place the trump on the same match, then for both of them plus two or minus one scoring will apply for win or loss respectively.
According to the new format announced by PBL today, each team plays five ties with the other five teams — hence 15 ties during the league stage followed by semi-finals and finals.
Each tie will comprise of five matches — men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s singles, mixed doubles and men’s singles.
Also only after each team shares the list of players who will be playing the five matches and their choice of trump match, the order of play will be mutually decided by the technical team of PBL and Star India before each tie to keep the schedule unpredictable.
The following criteria will be considered before scheduling the match:
(i) No player plays back-to-back matches.
(ii) In case the same is unavoidable, then there will be a five minute extra gap between consecutive matches if the same player is playing them. Prior to this, both the captains would have shared the names of the players who will be representing them in these five matches and which of these five matches will be Trump for the respective teams. It is fine that both the teams have placed the Trump on the same match.
(iii) A team cannot put the same player in the trump matches proposed by them more than twice in the league stage and once in the knock out stage i.e., if team A places five trump matches during the league stage, any player can take part in maximum two of those five matches. However, participation of a player in a trump match proposed by the opponent will not be counted in these maximum two criterions.
(iv) Scoring: Victory in a normal match gives one point, loss gives zero points. In a Trump Match, the team that has called for the Trump gets two points for victory and minus one point for loss. However, the other team will play this match as a normal match and will either get one or zero points for win or loss respectively. If both the teams place the trump on the same match, then for both of them plus two or minus one scoring will apply for win or loss respectively.
(v) Each team shall have a minimum and maximum of 10 players of which a minimum of four Indian players, and shall ensure that at least two matches out of five in a Tie shall have Indian participation. No player can play more than two matches in a tie. The two men’s singles will have different players participating from each team i.e., same men’s player cannot play both the men’s singles.
(vi) Each player will be allowed one unsuccessful challenge per Match — the successful challenges are not counted. (BAI to ensure faster turnaround for challenges, i.e., the challenges are to be played right after the challenge instead of how it is done in BWF tournaments). In addition, each team is allowed one challenge (successful or unsuccessful) across the course of the five matches in a tie.
(vii) Break pattern: There will be a maximum one minute break in each game whenever the lead scorer reaches eight points, there will be a maximum of one minute break between games and there will be a maximum of five minute break between matches (from end of match point of the previous match to start of the first point of the next match).
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