Old ball or dry ball: The death-over dilemma for captains

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has introduced two rule changes to help bowlers, but they have created a tricky choice for captains. The first rule allows the use of saliva to shine the ball and use reverse swing, while the second rule allows the fielding captain to replace the ball with one of "similar wear and tear" after the 10th over in the second innings of a night game.

This has led to a dilemma for captains, who must decide whether to stick with the ball they have worked on to get it to reverse swing or opt for a harder and drier ball that might give their spinner more grip and turn in the final 10 overs of the match.

The Conundrum

In Match #5 between Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans, Shreyas Iyer chose not to change the ball and the plan to bowl wide yorkers from over-the-wicket to Sherfane Rutherford bore fruit. However, this meant that Yuzvendra Chahal, who was bought by PBKS at a record-breaking INR 18 crore, wasn't even able to complete his quota of overs.

The Trade-off

Punjab's fast bowling coach James Hopes explained the thinking behind it, but also underlined the trade-off. "Arshdeep enjoyed it, he was going to work on the ball properly with saliva and we did get a little bit of reverse swing in that last game at the end. But to be fair, that came at the expense of getting a dry ball as well because we didn't change our ball, and that probably affected Yuzi a little bit as well because he wasn't bowling with the dry ball for that game," Hope said.

The Strategy

In contrast, Royal Challengers Bengaluru did the opposite. In their win over Chennai Super Kings in Chennai, they changed the ball before the 20th over and handed it to Krunal Pandya. This showed another way to use the rule, and it's a strategy that might be used more often as teams get used to the new rules.

The Impact

The ball change rule becomes a strategic call, especially when you're up against big hitters like Nicholas Pooran. "I think what we've seen on these grounds and on these pitches sometimes, someone like Pooran for example, he's had an unbelievable last two years. It's just about trying to limit the damage sometimes," Hopes said.

As the tournament progresses and dew patterns vary across venues deep into the summer, how captains negotiate this conundrum will be something to watch out for, especially on nights where a single over can tilt the contest.