The IPL Governing Council of the IPL 2025 has altered the conditions of play to provide an additional 120 minutes to complete the remaining nine league-stage matches. The decision, intended to reduce rain intermittency caused by the premature onset of the monsoon, stretches the admissible postponement from the previous one-hour limit to two hours an extension previously available only for the playoffs.
Though the aim is to have a level playing field in the decisive last phase of the tournament, the decision has caused indignation among some franchises, particularly the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). KKR reported that it complained to the BCCI that the rule ought to have been applied when the season resumed on May 17.
KKR is frustrated by their rain-washed match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), which got washed away without a single ball being bowled. The no-result virtually ended the defending champions’ hopes of making it to the playoffs. KKR CEO Venky Mysore expressed his disappointment upon receiving an official e-mail from IPL COO Hemang Amin, which notified all the ten franchises of the amended conditions and defended the move as a precaution given poor weather predictions.
“While these mid-season changes to the rules may be necessary under the circumstances, one would have expected more consistency in the way such changes are being applied,” Mysore wrote, as accessed by Cricbuzz.
“When the IPL re-started (on May 17), it was clear that the first game on May 17 KKR vs RCB was at high risk of being interrupted due to rain in B’lore. The forecast was there for all to see. Not only was the game washed out, but the additional 120 minutes now being applied may have provided a chance of at least a 5 over a side game (sic).”
“The washout ended KKR’s chances of making the playoffs. Such ad hoc decisions and inconsistencies of applying them are not appropriate for a tournament of this standing,” Mysore said, adding, “I am sure you also understand why we feel aggrieved.”
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The Knight Riders are not the only ones to have questioned the timing of the rule amendment. Other franchises too have expressed similar concerns, fearing that such mid-season changes could create a dangerous precedent and upset the competitive equilibrium of the league, reports Cricbuzz.
And as the tournament reaches its last lap, the backlash of this move keeps looming over the horizon, questioning consistency of one of the most-followed leagues across the globe.
