New BBL rules DRS: New over rate rule in Big Bash League 2022-23 explained

New BBL rules: Big Bash League has pulled the plug on a couple of changes made under the name of innovation.

Never been averse to changes including those made around the basic nature of sport, Big Bash League has come with an addition and two subtractions to their rules ahead of the forthcoming 12th season.

Not a very deep dive into history is needed to recall how CA (Cricket Australia) had introduced three rules under the name of innovation to make their premier T20 league more enthralling. Introduced before BBL 2020-21, these three new rules were named Power Surge, X-Factor and Bash Boost.

While Power Surge has been retained for BBL 2022-23, both X-Factor and Bash Boost have been done away with. In simple words, concepts of a substitute player and a bonus point will no longer be implemented this season.

Surprisingly, removal of X-Factor has happened less than a couple of weeks after BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) announced the introduction of Impact Player for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

New BBL rules 2022-23

BBL introducing DRS (Decision Review System) has emerged as the biggest upshot of the latest development. High time that it was implemented in a leading T20 competition such as the BBL, CA have agreed to shell out close to $2 Million in their attempt to give consequences of umpiring howlers a chop.

“Implementing DRS has been a challenging task for the BBL, which is the most logistically complex T20 league in the world,” BBL General Manager Alistair Dobson said in a statement. “That, plus the impact of the pandemic on travel and movement, have meant the technology has not been possible to introduce until this season.”

While the technology will be available for all BBL matches, it will be available for a selected 24 (out of 59) Women’s BBL matches. Each team will receive one review per innings. This season will also be the first time when Power Surge will be put into effect in WBBL.

Slow over rate rule in BBL

In addition to DRS, CA have also decided to follow ICC (International Cricket Council) on the path of penalizing teams for slow over rates. As a result, a regular uninterrupted BBL innings will have to be bowled within 79 minutes. Teams failing to do so will have to field with just four fielders outside the 30-yard circle for the remainder of the innings.

It was earlier this year that ICC had set an 85-minute deadline for teams to begin the last over of a T20I innings. It was just over a week ago that ICC had made an announcement regarding bringing the same rule to ODI innings as well. Penalty for defaulters in both T20I and ODI innings remains the same like the BBL.