IPL is just a few days away and fans are eagerly waiting for it. Team camps are going on and players are practicing. The matches last for a long time and last longer than international matches and fans watch till late night.

IPL takes more time than international cricket and this is done deliberately. BCCI and broadcast revenue is involved in this but it is not good for the audience. Fans are also disillusioned due to this.

Actually, the IPL matches last for an average of 3 hours and 40 minutes. There are separate breaks in this. Talking about international cricket, matches during the T20 World Cup used to end in an average of 3 hours and 20 minutes, there is a separate penalty if more time is taken.

In IPL, there is no penalty even if the over starts late. A case of penalty was seen in the T20 World Cup between India and the US. The over did not start even after the timer expired three times, then the umpire imposed a penalty on the US, but such rules are deliberately not implemented in the IPL.

The time taken in an IPL match is equivalent to 50 overs of an innings in ODI cricket and this includes drinks as well. IPL matches often see delays in starting matches even after timeouts are provided and there is no rule for this. The time of 3 hours and 40 minutes for 40 overs of both teams is an act of fooling the fans.

Why it takes so much time?

There is a reason why this is done. The more breaks there are, the more time the broadcaster gets for advertisements and the money they earn. Many times, when the match is tied or there is a super over, the time has gone beyond 12 midnight.

What used to happen in T20 International?

When T20 cricket was first introduced in international cricket, the scheduled time for an innings of 20 overs was 75 minutes. Now an innings of IPL is getting over in 2 hours. However, broadcasters are incurring losses due to the delay in finishing the match because not everyone stays awake for that long every day to waste time.

Broadcaster's ratings started falling The Indian Express, quoting the managing director of Star Sports, reported that the TV ratings of IPL started falling after 10.45 pm and fell rapidly after 11 pm. These figures show that viewers do not continue to watch the match for that long. Viewers are fooled by wasting their time just to make money from advertising.

PC:Oneindia