Tactical time-outs could be reduced - Modi

Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, has said there is a possibility that the tactical time-out in the middle of each team's innings could be changed from one interval of seven and a half minutes to two breaks of two and a half minutes each for the semi-finals and final of the second season of the IPL.

"It's not frozen yet but we are looking at two aspects. There will be two two-and-a-half-minutes break per innings, so the break in all during an innings will be of five minutes," Modi told NDTV. "The first two-and-a-half-minute break will be just after the Powerplay [6 overs] and the second to be taken by the fielding side at any time.

"It happens in every sport, there is a strategy break and everything. But 7.5 minutes may look like a bit longer, so we are seeing how we can reduce it down to five minutes" However, he said that the idea was yet to be ratified by the tournament's technical committee.

The tactical time-out has played a part in shifting the momentum in the Twenty20 games and has usually benefited the fielding team with the batting side losing wickets in the overs immediately after the break. It was criticised by Sachin Tendulkar, the Mumbai Indians captain who felt that the breaks were "hampering the momentum of a team", Kings XI Punjab coach Tom Moody and VB Chandrasekhar, Chennai Super Kings' head of cricket operations. Other experts were also not certain of how much value it added to the game.

Kolkata Knight Riders coach John Buchanan had called for the number of overseas players in a XI to be increased from four but Modi said it was not going to happen. "This is the Indian Premier League," he told the Indian Express. "The focus is on getting local talent and I have shoved away the idea of increasing the number of foreigners."