As we have witnessed in the first two games of the Asia Cup in both the matches, SL Vs AFG and IND vs PAK, three teams out of four faced an on-match penalty of keeping 5 fielders in a 30-yard circle in the last 3 overs of their innings.
Afghanistan faced the penalty of keeping 5 players inside in the last 3 overs, which cost them some runs as the last wicket of Sri Lanka scored around 30 runs.
Sri Lanka was however bowled out for 105 and Afghanistan chased the target in just 10.1 overs.
The over-hyped match between India and Pakistan was played yesterday and both the teams were penalised by this new over-rate rule.
As per the new rule, there is an in-game penalty for slow over-rate. As per this rule, a bowling team must be in the condition to bowl the first ball of the final over of the innings by the scheduled or rescheduled time. If they fail to abide by this rule, then as a penalty, one fewer fielder will subsequently be allowed outside the 30-yard circle for the remaining overs in the innings. So as per the rule, the bowling team will be allowed to place only 4 fielders outside the 30-yard circle in the last 3 overs of their innings.
This is an in-game penalty and the teams can pay a heavy price of runs as the last 3 overs of any T20 game is very crucial.
In a T20 match, a single over can change the game upside down and here we are dealing with 3 crucial overs.
Both India and Pakistan were behind the slow rate and both were penalised. Pakistan managed to get some runs in the last overs which could have been saved if India had 5 players on the boundary line in the last 3 overs.
Pakistan was able to reach a respectable total of 147 however, they were bowled out in the last over of their innings.
While India was chasing the target, the same thing happened with the Pakistan team also, they were also behind the rate.
Jadeja hit a boundary on the very first ball of the 18th over as there were only 4 fielders outside the circle. Had there been an additional fielder on the boundary, this boundary could have been stopped.
Another boundary was scored by Hardik Pandya in the 18th over, which was over mid-off. If Pakistan had a player on Long off, this could have been just a single or maybe 2 runs instead of a boundary.
So if we count 6 extra runs then these 6 additional runs in the last over would definitely have made the difference.
So in my opinion, the new rule of the in-game penalty of having only 4 players outside the 30-yard circle in the last 3 overs of the innings could decide the course of the match and could be the game changer.
ICC is implementing the new rules every now and then to improve the quality of the game and bring in more excitement. Implementing these rules makes the game more engaging and exciting.
We can witness more game changers of the mage due to this new rule in coming matches in the Asia cup and also in the upcoming T20 World cup in October.