New Rules in Big Bash League 2022-2023: DRS technology set to be introduced for the first time

The Big Bash League has introduced a slew of changes for its upcoming season of the League. After a long slumber, the Australian Board has decided to introduce the Decision Review System in the League from the 2022 -23 season. The DRS could not be introduced in the last season as the Covid pandemic was on the rise and travel had to be cut down which automatically led to the trimming of venues.

"The league is delighted to introduce DRS … in line with the very best cricket competitions in the world. Implementing DRS has been a challenging task for the BBL, which is the most logistically complex T20 league in the world. That, plus the impact of the pandemic on travel and movement, have meant the technology has not been possible to introduce until this season." Alistar Dobson the CEO of the Big Bash League said.

Each team will have one unsuccessful review per innings with the fielding team captain or batter receiving 15 seconds to call for a review. According to the norms, the reviewing team will keep their one unsuccessful review if the decision results in an 'Umpire's Call'. Ultra-Edge, commonly referred to as a Snicko, and ball-tracking will be the review technology available to the TV match official.

The other big changes for the upcoming season of the Big Bash League are that the X Factor substitution rule has been done away with. The bash boost point has been scrapped as well. Also, the other big announcement is that the power surge rule is being applied to the Women's Big Bash League as well.

Teams will now get back to the old way of naming a standard playing XI, a 12th player and substitute fielders, while competition points will revert to two for a win, one for a tie or abandoned match and zero for a loss.

The other big change will be that of an innings clock which has come in to help to speed up the game and also keep track of the game.  The fielding team is required to commence the last over inside 79 minutes (plus allowances), otherwise, they will be limited to four fielders instead of five outside the field restriction circle for the remainder of the innings.