Two bouncers per over allowed in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, here's why

The bowlers will be allowed to use two bouncers per over in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy to maintain a balance between bat and ball in the slam-bang T20 format, the BCCI announced on Saturday.

It was one of the decisions taken at the Apex Council meeting here on Friday.

"The BCCI has decided to introduce two bouncers per over in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy to balance the contest between bat and ball," said the BCCI in a statement.

Only one bouncer per over was allowed thus far.

The domestic T20 event, which will also see a tweaker version of the Impact Player rule, will begin on October 16.

"The teams can use the Impact Player at any time during the match. In the previous season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, a team could only use the Impact Player before the 14th over of an innings. The teams will have to select their playing XI along with 4 substitute players before the toss."

Meanwhile, the board has planned a major revamp for stadiums across the country as most of them lack basic facilities.

As per the statement, the 10 World Cup venues will be upgraded first and rest will be revamped in the second phase.

"The first phase will deal with the upgradation of the venues of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, work for which shall be completed before the commencement of the World Cup. The second phase will involve upgradation of rest of the venues," the BCCI added.

The 50-over World Cup will be played in India from October 5-November 19.

The matches will be played in Delhi, Dharamsala, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Ahmedabad. Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram will host warm-up games.