The 2023 season of the Indian Premier League has lived up to all expectations so with some near-impossible chases, stunning batting performances, incredible bowling spells and outstanding catches. With this high-quality cricket, IPL has grown into one of the top pro-sporting leagues in the world.
I n compar ison to sporting institutions like the NBA, NFL and English Premier League, the IPL, in its short 16-year history, has amassed a global reach and the ability to generate huge amounts of revenue in a short period. But like everything, there are always scopes for improvement and here the Indian Premier League can take inspiration from the beautiful game which has been the most popular sport in the world.
SportsTiger believes IPL could borrow a few concepts from around the footballing world to make the premier T20 tournament even more competitive and intriguing. Check these five possible new rules here IPL could adopt from football here:
1. Mid-Season Transfer window
The summer and winter transfer windows have been some of the most engaging parts of the footballing calendar. During this time, we often see record-fee transfers, constant rumours and surprising deadline-day moves which make life far more entertaining for the fans. Hence we hope to see a mid-season transfer window in the IPL along with the auction. This would allow teams to improve their rosters mid-season and make a possible deep run in the tournament.
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2. Red Card / Yellow Card
The coloured cards to indicate misconduct on the field have been a mainstay of football for ages now and we hope to see these cards in the Indian Premier League as well. These cards often are shown to suggest a player or coach has committed a foul and will be penalised for the mistake. In cricket, umpires don’t have these cards and actions about possible misconduct are often taken after the end of the play. Hence to make this process more instantaneous, umpires should also have yellow and red cards.
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3. Penalty Shootout
Over the 20 years of T20 cricket, the method to determine a tied result has evolved from a bowl-out to a super-over where both teams go head-to-head one more time for one more time. But in football, these tied games go down to the penalty shootout on which massive tournaments have been decided. So we hope to bring cricket’s penalty shootout – the bowl-out back as a decider for games which stay tied after the super over.
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4. More than one Substitute / Impact Player
The IPL 2023 has brought to the fore one of the biggest innovations in cricket where a team can replace one of their players from the starting XI with a substitute. But this has been a staple in football with managers having four to five options on the bench, who came to impact the game in various periods of the game. So we want the IPL to increase the number of impact players a team can employ in a single fixture.
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5. All-Star game
The IPL has certainly brought some of our favourite cricketing stars together but to make these players even more accessible an All-star would be a great addition. This concept has been prevalent in the USA where each of their top leagues of an All-star weekend where players from various teams come together. Hence an all-star game between a team of North and South India will be fun for fans in India.
