IPL-inspired BBL to introduce strategic timeouts for 2019-20 season

The Big Bash League for 2019-20 will begin on December 17 of this year. Before the league begins, Cricket Australia has revealed a few details of the new rules to be part of the Big Bash. Two areas have been mainly addressed - Super Overs and the Strategic Timeout.

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Batting side to get a timeout for 90 seconds

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Australia media reports have claimed that Cricket Australia's head of BBL, Alistair Dobson has revealed that the new developments were made after discussions with the key stakeholders in the cricket league. The league will now feature multiple super overs in knockout stages if the first super over gets tied. If a super over gets tied in the league stage, the match will be declared as a tie and the teams will share the points. Coming to the strategic timeout, the batting side will get a 90-second timeout that they choose to take between the seventh and the thirteenth over. If a team does not take the strategic timeout until the end of the thirteenth over, the timeout will automatically be activated at the end of the thirteenth over. The timeouts can only be called for at the end of an over's play and the captains and the coaches will have the power to call for the timeout.

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The IPL pioneered strategic timeouts

Strategic timeouts are something fairly common in American sports like basketball due to which the Indian Premier League made them a part of the game from the second season in 2009. The original timeout had a length of 7.5 minutes that happened in the middle of every inning. Senior cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar did not warm up to the idea and claimed that the phenomenon made sides lose their momentum. After reconsideration, the IPL refined the timeout rules for the 2010 season when both the teams got a 2:30 minute timeout that the bowling side could call for from overs 6 to 8 and the batting side could call for the same from overs 11 to 16. Since then, the cricket fraternity has warmed up to the concept of the strategic timeout and many matches in the IPL have turned around right after the timeout. 

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