IPL 2021: All you need to know about new rule changes

The second half of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), to be held in the United Arab Emirates, will see the implementation of new rules. As per the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) 46-page health advisory, the ball that goes into the stand will not be used, and a new ball will be taken from the ball repository. The ball will be sanitised by the fourth umpire before being stored in the ball library.

“If the cricket ball goes in the stands or outside the stadium, the fourth umpire will provide a replacement from the library of cricket balls. The previous ball when returned will be sanitized with alcohol-based wipes and/or UV-C by the fourth umpire and placed in the library,” the health advisory states. 

According to the ICC protocol, a ball that has been hit into the stands is usually sanitised and then used immediately. BCCI, on the other hand, has decided to modify this rule in order to ensure the safety of all participants in the competition. 

It has also decided to discontinue the use of contact tracing bands for the remainder of IPL 2021. The contract tracing bands were discovered to have loopholes, where the device was not able to track players properly in some cases. The bubble integrity officers have been tasked with tracking the players' movements throughout the course of the league.

With the league fast approaching, the board is going above and beyond to ensure that the second phase runs as smoothly as possible. The second phase of IPL 2021 will resume with the clash between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians on September 19.