The IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday night at the Wankhede Stadium turned out to be a nerve-wracking humdinger: arguably the best contest seen this season.

Thrills, chills and spills are embedded in T20 cricket making the format a rage globally. For traditionalists, this also means predictableness in the tenor and texture of play, which is why so few matches have recall value.

However, Wednesday night was different. Kieron Pollard’s power hitting eclipsed that of Chris Gayle and KL Rahul earlier, and I dare say was perhaps better than anything even Andre Russell has done this season for the difficulty quotient it entailed.

Mumbai were chasing a mammoth 198 to win. More than just the big hits, it was Pollard’s resolute intent and eagerness to take responsibility (he was captaining the side in Rohit Sharma’s absence) that left a lasting impact.

This year in the IPL we’ve seen spectacular hitting, sensational batting collapses, last ball finishes, wafer-thin margins of victories and also a ‘Super Over’ climax: just about everything a T20 junkie would hope for.

And the season’s not yet half way through!

However, even in this exhilarating roller-coaster ride, I have a serious misgiving: matches finishing way beyond scheduled time.

Wednesday night’s match, for instance, spilled over into Thursday. By the time the last ball was bowled it was around 15 minutes past midnight, four-and-quarter hours after start of play!

Had there been a ‘Super Over’, play would have consumed 25-30 minutes further at least, going by the experience of an earlier match between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders.

Forget last ball and Super Over climaxes, most matches this season have taken 20-30 minutes more than the time officially budgeted for a match. That is way too much and leads to (so far silent) hardship for broadcasters, state associations, franchise owners, ground staff, vendors et al as well as fans: in time and costs.

Imagine if Wednesday’s match had gone into the Super Over and finished around 1am. Thousands of fans that use public transport systems would have been stranded.

The essence of T20 cricket is in fast-paced, thrill-a-minute action as well as brevity of playing time. And how long a match should take was reached after hard research.

The stipulated time is 80 minutes per innings (20 overs @4 minutes per over). Ten minutes between innings, takes it to 170 minutes. Add 5 minutes per inning for DRS, and matches should finish in three hours max.

The IPL is peculiar in that the playing conditions have a ‘strategic time out’ segment of 2.5 minutes each. This occurs four times, adding 10 more minutes to the total duration of the match.

Add a further 10 minutes for other delays – minor injury, change of ball etc -- the outer limit for any IPL match to be concluded should be 200 mins, except in extraordinary circumstances like someone getting seriously injured, or the floodlights conking out.

But the problem of delays is arising largely because of slow over rates. Captains and bowlers incessantly discuss tactics, often prompted by coaches and support staff in the dug-outs, eating heavily into time.

T20 cricket is obviously demanding -- physically, mentally and strategically. But captains, bowlers and fielders simply have to cope with the challenge of thinking on their feet, and not allowing the pace of the game – its biggest allure – to flag.

The BCCI’s way of tackling the issue so far has been to monetarily penalise captains and teams. But that is hardly making an impact as these fines are relatively insignificant to the financial scale at which the IPL operates, and readily absorbed by players and/or franchises.

True, the stakes – monetary and pride – are extremely high in the IPL, where careers and fortunes are made and unmade. Yet these delays are a disservice to the league, format and sport.

As mere fines are unlikely to improve matters, there is need to introduce a more stringent measure against those in violation.

For instance, in addition to monetary fines, if teams failing to maintain time discipline had their Net Run Rate adversely affected, the message would reach home more effectively.

Whatever the measure, the BCCI and IPL’s Governing Council need to take up this matter afresh – and swiftly – with franchises and players to keep the league free of this growing menace.

First Published: Apr 12, 2019 00:04 IST