THE Indian Premier League (IPL) has sought to minimise match-time delays by announcing unprecedented fines for teams who don’t complete their overs within the stipulated time limit.

The captain will be fined $20 000 for a first offence, the entire team will be penalised $220 000 for the second, and the third offence will result in a team fine of $360 000 and a one-match ban for the captain.

The announcement followed reports, confirmed by Lalith Modi, that the IPL was adding 15 minutes to each match – broken up into two mid-innings slots – as a “tactical time-out”, though with the dual purpose of fitting in advertisement sections.

“Last year we found that 59 out of 59 games went overtime by as high as 45 to 50 minutes or an hour,” Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman and commissioner, said. “Each game was being dragged further and further and further. The reasons were that players were going back and forth with messages and there was a lot of strategy being decided from time to time.

“So we decided that we’re going to tighten those as far as overs are concerned, time of overs is concerned and time of play is concerned. The first penalty for the captain is $20 000 for a first offence. For the second offence the entire team gets penalised $200 000 – that’s $220 000 (in total). For the third offence the captain gets banned for a game and the team gets penalised $360 000.”

Modi confirmed the tactical time-out, a seven-and-half-minute break after 10 overs designed to allow teams to discuss strategy instead of having to spend time on it during the course of the game. The breaks in each innings will lengthen the duration of a Twenty20 match from three hours to three hours and 15 minutes.

The seven-and-a-half-minute break will see the stadium crowd entertained by a live band while television audiences will watch three, separate two-and-a-half minute segments, two of which will be sold commercially. The third will show the teams taking drinks and discussing tactics. (Cricinfo)