Ganguly: IPL 2020 to have designated umpire to spot no-balls

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said the experiment was done during the Pink-ball Test between India and Bangladesh and will be persisted with in IPL 2020.

Mumbai Indians pacer Lasith Malinga no ball in a match against Royal Challengers Bangalore was a major controversy in IPL 2019.

Umpiring errors became a talking point in the Indian Premier League (IPL) last season. Despite top umpires on duty, there were instances when they failed to make the right calls, especially on no balls.

And keeping that in mind, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to depute an umpire for each game, who will exclusively monitor no balls. The matter was discussed in the IPL Governing Council meeting last month under the supervision of former India cricketer, Brijesh Patel. And on Sunday, it was approved at the Board’s Annual General Meeting.

Confirming the development, BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly said that such an experiment was also done during the Pink-ball Test between India and Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens, where an additional umpire was deputed to only monitor no-balls via television.

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The BCCI chief said the experiment has been a success and will be persisted with during the Indian Premier League’s forthcoming edition, next year.

“The reports have been good, so we will do it in the IPL. T20 is a faster game, so the focus will be more on T20s. The umpires will be monitoring only no balls,” Ganguly said.

There were proposals of increasing the hosting fee for the IPL venues, however, that was not cleared yet. Some of the state associations even suggested that the players who are not part of the IPL should be allowed to play in inter-state franchise leagues. However, Ganguly clarified that it's just a proposal as of now.