IPL's Strategy Break in Need of New Strategy

Four days into the second IPL tournament, it is fair to say that the event appears to be running very smoothly. Credit must be given to the authorities for being able to move the event to South Africa at the last minute and yet still have packed crowds, as was the case at the weekend.

While the tournament looks set to once again capture the imagination of fans around the world, there is a new innovation that has been introduced for IPL 2009. However, it is one that I feel is to the detriment of the game and in many ways contradicts what Twenty20 Cricket is all about.

Twenty20 Cricket has now become famous around the world for its fast paced nature. This is something that has been embraced, as it keeps the game moving forward and, perhaps more importantly, gives the sport more scope to expand globally.

For this year’s IPL tournament, however, a seven-minute strategy break has been introduced at the 10 over stage in each innings. Seven minutes is a long time.

The Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming yesterday said that his team was trying to figure out what to say throughout the strategy break. He then joked that the first two minutes are fine but in the last five it is a question of just trying to fill up time.

As well as not always knowing what to say in the strategy break, there is also the issue of momentum. In yesterday’s game between the Super Kings and the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the former found themselves 106-0 after 10 overs, with Matthew Hayden and Partiv Patel smashing the Royal Challengers bowlers to all parts of the ground.

Upon the resumption of the match, the Super Kings lost two wickets in two balls and were 106-2 from 10.2 overs. As someone who enjoys watching this great game, I felt a sense of a letdown.

Matthew Hayden, in full flow, was a joy to watch, and to be brutally honest, were it not for the strategy time out, he would in my mind almost certainly have registered the first century of this year's IPL.

If we are trying to speed up the game, having already acknowledged that T20 Cricket is always going to be a high-octane affair, then what is the logic in stopping the game for seven minutes mid-way through each inning?

Another reason why the strategic break does not make a lot of sense is the fact that it has to be taken at the 10 over point regardless of the match situation.

In yesterday's game the Royal Challengers were six down after 10 overs with only 60 on the board and chasing 180 for victory. Even their most ardent supporter would have admitted at that stage that the game was up for them, so what exactly was a strategy break going to achieve when a game is already as good as lost?

Perhaps the IPL could take a page out of the NBA's book. In the NBA they have a 20-second time out and a full time out, and each team has a limited number of time outs that they can call. It is ultimately up to the team when it is appropriate to call a time out.

I am not totally in favor of the idea of having a time out in cricket in the first place, but if it is going to be applied surely the idea of the team getting to call it would make the game more interesting.

Just imagine in an IPL game a team needs 10 to win off the last five balls with two wickets in hand. What a perfect time for either team to take a time out, but not seven minutes long.

Perhaps one minute would be just enough time to let the teams work out how to deal with the tense situation, and keep the crowd on the edge of their seat without making them restless.

Either way, a new strategy certainly needs to be formed when it comes to the strategy break in the IPL.