The Indian Premier League will introduce new regulated strategy breaks and stiff fines for the upcoming Twenty20 cricket tournament in South Africa, in a bid to prevent games from finishing late.
The IPL commissioner Lalit Modi says there will be a seven-minute pause in play at the halfway stage of every 20-over innings to allow the teams to discuss tactics for the remainder of the innings.
Modi says it's to avoid the unscheduled delays that happened in every IPL match last season, with some games going over time by as much as 45 minutes or an hour.
The players were going back and forth with messages on strategy, holding up play.
The IPL will also impose financial penalties and even one-match bans on the captains of fielding sides if they exceed the time limits for bowling.
