The "soft ball" issue was highlighted when Suryakumar Yadav was given out in the England vs. India T20I series third game despite replays showing the ball had touched the ground. We guess this caught BCCI's attention and they introduced a soft ball and time restriction for the IPL 2021 beginning from 9 April. The BCCI, according to Cricbuzz's report, dismissed the rule of soft signal in the IPL. "The on-field umpire giving soft signal while referring the decision to the third umpire will not be applicable," the BCCI stated.
"Should both on-field umpires require assistance from the third umpire to make a decision, the bowler's end umpire shall firstly take a decision on-field after consulting with the striker's end umpire, before consulting by two-way radio with the third umpire. Such consultation shall be initiated by the bowler's end umpire to the third umpire by making the shape of a TV screen with his/her hands. The third umpire shall determine whether the batsman has been caught, whether the delivery was a bump ball, or if the batsman willfully obstructed the field. In case of a fair catch, the third umpire will use all the technological support available to him/her. The third umpire shall communicate his/her decision," the BCCI said. Kohli vocalised his distaste against the soft signal and umpire's call.
The latter though stays in place for the IPL. According to the BCCI's revised playing conditions, 20th over must be finished in 90 minutes. Previously, the 20th over was to begin by the 90th minute. As per Cricbuzz, the BCCI said, "As a measure to control the match timings, the 20th overs in each innings is now included in 90 minutes, earlier the 20th over was to start on or before the 90th minute."
Going into details, the BCCI said, "The minimum over the rate to be achieved in IPL Matches shall be 14.11 overs per hour (ignoring the time taken by time-outs). In uninterrupted matches, this means that the 20th over should finish within 90 minutes (being 85 minutes of playing time plus 5 minutes of time-out) of the start of the innings. For delayed or interrupted matches where an innings is scheduled to be less than 20 overs, the maximum time of 90 minutes shall be reduced by 4 minutes 15 seconds for every over by which the innings is reduced."
The BCCI has assigned the duty of maintaining the rule of time to the fourth umpire and alert the batting side if it indulges in time-wasting tactics. "In the event of any time allowances being granted to the fielding team under clause 12.7.3.4 above (time wasting by batting team), then such time shall be deducted from the allowances granted to such batting team in the determination of its over rate. The fourth umpire should ensure that the batting captain (if not at the wicket) and the team manager is both aware of any warnings." As per reports, BCCI shall implement the rules from 1 April.