How this years Vivo IPL 2021 is different from other editions of IPL?

The last season of IPL was played in limited venues in Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. However, in India, it will be the first time that the number of venues has been reduced. This time around, it will be played in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. This means Punjab, Hyderabad and Rajasthan will not get to host matches for the upcoming season.

Now let's have a look at how this year IPL is a whole lot different than the previous season.

No Home Advantage.

No franchise will get to play matches at home and thus the home advantage will be eliminated. Each team will play at four out of the six venues. The fixtures have been mapped so that each team travels only thrice during the league stage which has been done to reduce commute and minimise health risk.

Playoffs at Motera Stadium.

Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium will host all three playoff matches and the grand finale too. In recent years, the winner of the previous season had the honour to host the finale. However, to eliminate any home advantage and to minimise travel, the decision seems to have been taken.

Do you think defending champions Mumbai Indians, should have the honour to host the Vivo IPL 2021 finale?

New Jersey.

Each edition of the Indian Premier League, IPL franchises unveils new team kits with new sponsors. Be it the Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, KingsXI Punjab, each team be spotting new kits with new sponsors.

Time of innings.

Strict guidelines have been issued to teams to finish their bowling innings in 90 minutes. Within this, there will be five minutes of strategic time-out. As a result, an innings will now last 85 minutes. If by any means the playing team fails to finish the match within the given timings, the captain of the following team will have to pay a certain amount of fine for not finishing the match at the given timings.

Recently: MS Dhoni was fined, as they bowled slow overs. Read more here: https://www.explorevalley.in/ipl-2021-know-why-csks-skipper-ms-dhoni-was-fined-in-his-opening-match-of-ipl-2021

Third umpire to review short run.

The duty of monitoring the short run will now go to the third umpire. Rule 18 of the Laws of Cricket states that “a run is "short" if either, or both, batsmen fail to make good their ground -- cross the crease-- in turning for a further run. In IPL 2020, the on-field umpire mistakenly called a run by Chris Jordan short - which led to Kings XI Punjab - now Punjab Kings - losing the match by a narrow margin

The third umpire will call no-balls.

As per the updated IPL guidelines, the third umpire can overrule the no-ball decision made by the on-field umpire. The move comes to cut short human errors. Earlier, the third-umpire couldn't interfere in on-field no-ball calls.

How satisfied are you with this change in the rule?

Most expensive player.

With Chris Morris sold to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 16.25 crore, the South African all-rounder became the most expensive player in the IPL history, surpassing Yuvraj Singh’s Rs 16 crore price tag. The former India all-rounder and World Cup winner was snapped up by Delhi Daredevils for Rs 16 crore in 2015.

No full stadium.

Last year, IPL had to be played behind closed doors due to the pandemic. This time too we haven't seen much difference. It's uncertain as of now, that will we get to see a 50 % audience in the upcoming matches or not.

Kings XI Punjab renamed.

After 13 years, Preity Zinta’s Kings XI Punjab missed the attendance of the IPL 2021. Instead, the franchise is playing in a new avatar — 'Punjab Kings' after it was renamed ahead of the auction.

Are you missing the Kings XI Punjab?

Return to regular match timings.

It was all about last year where the match timings were shifted from 8 P.M. IST. And we all hoped that this year IPL would return to its normal match timings, but it wasn't. As there are certain rules and regulations in different cities due to the increase in Covid-19 cases, the match has to be ended within certain times.

What do you really think about all these changes?

Will we see a new champion this year as there is no home ground advantage?