IPL 2020 to have special umpire for monitoring front foot no-balls: Sourav Ganguly

IPL 2019 saw the Mumbai Indians win their fourth title, defeating arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings in the final and creating a world record. CSK were defending their title and lost the final by just 1-run in the end, courtesy Lasith Malinga picking up the wicket of Shardul Thakur when 2 runs were needed off the last ball.

However, there was another thing that made the previous IPL edition infamous and that was the number of controversies created in the tournament. One of those controversies was on-field umpires missing front foot no-balls. The issue was highlighted during a match between the Mumbai and Royal Challengers Bangalore when the umpire missing a line no-ball, costing the RCB the match.

Even during the first Test match between Australia and Pakistan, played at the Gabba in Brisbane, the umpires missed a total of 21 no-balls in a single day, costing the Australian team that many runs and showed that the officials have been dependent on the technology for too long and forgotten their duties.

Sourav Ganguly says the third umpire will keep an eye on front foot no-balls during IPL 2020

After being scrutinized for their attitude towards the umpires ignoring the front foot no-ball, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to depute an umpire for each game, who will exclusively monitor such instances. The IPL Governing Council under the supervision of Brijesh Patel discussed the matter last month and it was approved by the BCCI in its AGM on December 1.

“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 the T20s. The umpires will be monitoring only no balls,” BCCI chief Ganguly was quoted as saying by India Today. Ganguly also pointed out that an experiment was also done during the Pink-ball Test between India and Bangladesh in Kolkata, with an official keeping an eye on no-balls via TV.

“If all goes well, during the next Indian Premier League, you could see another umpire apart from the regular umpires just to “observe” no-balls. The concept sounds weird, but this was among the issues discussed in the first IPL Governing Council meeting which was held here,” a senior GC member added. He had also said that the umpire would not be a third or fourth umpire, but will only focus on no-balls exclusively.