The International Cricket Council is considering reducing the break between the two innings of a T20I to 15 minutes instead of the existing 20, seemingly to finish off matches even sooner than they normally do, according to a report in Cricbuzz.
The ICC has explored reducing the innings break from 20 minutes to 15 minutes to maintain the format’s fast-paced nature. Multiple leading franchise leagues already follow a standard 15-minute interval, which is often cut to 10 minutes in rain-shortened or reduced-over games.
Since a T20 is designed to finish within three hours, breaks are kept to a minimum. The 20-minute interval gives the fielding team a short chance to recover, regroup and fine-tune their strategy before the second innings starts.
“There
shall be a 20-minute interval between innings, taken from the call of Time before the interval until the call of Play on resumption after the interval,” the existing playing condition says.
In the future, teams will have five fewer minutes to rest, regroup and plan for the second innings.
Clause 11.4.2 of the Men’s T20I Match Clause says, “Following a lengthy delay or interruption before the completion of the innings of the team batting first, the Match Referee may, at his discretion, reduce the interval between innings from 20 minutes to not less than 10 minutes.”
Thus, after a lengthy delay or interruption before the completion of the first innings, the match referee may, at their discretion, reduce the innings interval from 20 minutes to a minimum of 10 minutes.
This discretion should only be exercised after the revised overs per team have been calculated based on a 20-minute interval. If, after this adjustment, the rescheduled finishing time of the game is earlier than the latest permissible finishing time, the difference in minutes should be deducted from the duration of any interruption during the second innings before the remaining overs are determined.
