Are you still looking at the India scorecard from the 4th test match between India and England? Move on! After the suspension of the IPL in May 2021, the tournament is now back with a bang! Starting from the 19th of September and going all the way up to the 15th of October, there shall be cricketing madness non-stop for the viewers to enjoy. However, if you are finding it hard to recollect some of the rules and regulations of the tournament, then it is the perfect time to browse through this article and grasp the rules before your favourite teams are in action.

The action kicks off in the country of the United Arab Emirates. The country is no stranger to IPL cricket, having hosted the tournament partially in 2014 and entirely in 2020. Most of the rules that the IPL teams and players shall be following in the UAE are now pertaining to the COVID situation. Having already witnessed the suspension of the tournament, the BCCI is in no mood to put the completion of the tournament in jeopardy. Hence, given below is a list of the new rules listed out by the BCCI for franchisees to follow to ensure smooth conduction of the tournament.

COVID RULES:
To begin with, the first new rule put out by the BCCI involves transferring the Indian players who were representing the national team in England from one bubble to another. Upon entering the UAE, these players shall serve a 6-days isolation period in their respective hotel rooms.

The second rule is applicable to all those players who were not part of the bio-bubble of the Indian National Team. These players shall have to undergo three RT-PCR tests and test negative all three times before joining the biobubble for the IPL. However, it must be noted that these players shall serve a quarantine of seven days over which they shall undergo the above mentioned three RT-PCR tests.

POINTS SCORING:
IPL cricket is T20 cricket; this implies that each side shall play for 20 overs, and the outcome of the game shall be determined over a total of 40 overs. The winner of the game gets two points while the losing side receives 0 points. If the outcome of the game cannot be determined due to factors such as rain or complete abandonment, then both sides receive one point each.

In case both the teams end up with the exact same number of runs after a complete 40-over game, then the game shall enter the Super Over. The Super Over shall consist of the chasing team walking out to bat first and setting a total of the opponent side. The outcome of the Super Over shall determine which side walks away with the two points. In case of a tie in the Super Over, the Super Over shall be replayed until an outcome is obtained.

However, one must remember that in the case of multiple Super Overs, those players that have participated in the previous Super Over (as a batsman or as a bowler) shall be ineligible to further take part.

GENERAL RULES:
If you have been checking the India scorecard, you know that IPL cricket follows the same T20 format. However, there is just one change. In the IPL, every team’s playing can have a maximum of 4 overseas players. 

The IPL score board comes to a halt twice in every innings. This is due to a rule called the strategic timeout, which can be taken by the fielding side between overs 6-9 and the batting side between overs 13-16.

If you are wondering when to start checking your mobile phones for the daily IPL score updates, then you can start at 7.30 PM IST as every match kicks off then. However, on the weekends, you shall be treated to a double blast as there are doubleheaders, with the evening game starting as per usual and an additional afternoon game kicking off at 3.30 PM IST.

In addition to the above rules, all the usual cricketing rules apply. These include having 11 players on each side, power-play rules, 4-over limits per bowler, extras, boundary scoring and more.