IPL 2021: Here's why MS Dhoni was fined for slow over-rate and Kohli, Rohit weren't

The BCCI, ahead of the commencement of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), released strict playing conditions for the teams to complete matches on time. Previously, there have been complaints from the fans and experts about the matches going well past midnight with the teams taking two hours to complete their quota of 20 overs.

To address the issue, the BCCI directed all the franchises that they should complete their innings in 90 minutes including the time allotted for the strategic time-out. Even then, it took almost four hours for the opening game between MI and RCB to complete. Interestingly, none of the teams were fined by the officials, and MS Dhoni, the CSK skipper, was fined Rs 12 lakh, for the slow over-rate despite the match finishing in 18.4 overs.

The second match ended exactly at 11:11 PM IST, 14 minutes before the opening game concluded and this has left the fans befuddled. To find out the exact reason, CricTracker went deep into the playing conditions of the IPL 2021 and analyzed why Dhoni was fined and not Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

What do IPL 2021 Playing Conditions say?

According to the IPL 2021 Playing Conditions Clause 12.6, each innings has to be completed in 90 minutes, including the strategic time-out intervals (of 5 minutes in total). A 20-minute innings break will be taken. This accounts for a total of 3 hours and 20 minutes in which an uninterrupted game is expected to end. Notably, this clause doesn’t include any unexpected intervals which are covered in Clause 12.7.

The officials will calculate the over-rate at the end of each innings. However, they will take the following allowances into consideration as well according to Clause 12.7.3:

1. The time lost as a result of treatment given to a player by authorized medical personnel on the field of play

2. The time lost as a result of a player being required to leave the field as a result of a serious injury

3. The time taken for all third umpire referrals, consultations and any umpire or player reviews

4. The time lost as a result of time-wasting by the batting side

5. The time lost due to all other circumstances that are beyond the control of the fielding side

How much time MI and RCB took and why they weren’t fined?

RCB bowled first in the IPL 2021 season opener and after the match started at 7:30 PM IST, it took 111 minutes for the innings to end. According to Clause 12.6, RCB took around 21 minutes extra to bowl their 20 overs. But if we look at Clause 12.7.3 and take the allowances into consideration, then Virat Kohli and his men completed their overs on time.

Here’s how the RCB would’ve taken extra 21 minutes:

RCB picked a total of nine wickets with the ball. If it is considered that it takes a couple of minutes for the dismissed batsman to leave and the new batsman to take guard, then 18 minutes are covered here. Moreover, RCB overturned an on-field decision to get Ishan Kishan’s wicket via DRS while Hardik Pandya also took the matter upstairs to challenge his lbw decision.

Both of these might have easily taken around three or more minutes as the third umpire has to look at the front-on replay first and then come to the conclusion after having a look at snicko and ball-tracking. This proves that RCB finished their quota on time after the allowances were taken into consideration.

IPL 2021: Match 1 First innings ended at 9:21 PM IST

Did MI complete their 20 overs on time?

Given that RCB completed their quota properly, the umpires took a 20-minute break, and accordingly, the second innings started at 9:41 PM IST. The match went down the wire till the last ball and it ended exactly at 11:25 PM IST which means MI took 104 minutes, 14 minutes more than the allotted 90 minutes according to Clause 12.6.

However, when we take the allowances into consideration according to Clause 12.7.3, MI picked a total of eight wickets and it must have easily taken the extra 14 or more minutes for the departing batsmen to leave and the new player to take his guard. This also proves that MI also completed their quota of overs on time.

What happened in Match 2, CSK vs DC?

Delhi Capitals, after opting to bowl first, took 104 minutes to complete 20 overs. Again, the seven wickets which fell in the innings could be the reason for them taking extra 14 minutes. So this clears that Rishabh Pant also escaped the fine as his team bowled 20 overs on time.

IPL 2021: Match 2 First innings ended at 9:14 PM IST

What about CSK?

With the 20-minute interval between the innings, the second innings must have definitely begun around 9:34 PM IST. DC chased down the total of 189 for the loss of three wickets in 18.4 overs only. The match ended at 11:11 PM IST which means CSK took 97 minutes to bowl a total of 18.4 overs.

Even if allowances are taken into consideration for the three wickets that fell (say two minutes were wasted for each wicket), and there was a run-out call that went to the third umpire (say it wasted 1-2 minutes), CSK took around 89-90 minutes to bowl 18.4 overs.

However, according to Clause 12.6, the time limit to bowl 20 overs is 90 minutes (including strategic time-outs) and MS Dhoni and his men were around 8 balls short in terms of over rates. This is the reason why the CSK captain MS Dhoni was fined Rs 12 lakhs and the officials were spot on with their decision making.

We hope that the confusion among the fans is cleared now!