BCCI Implements Three Major Rule Changes Before IPL 2026, Tweaks Much-Needed Regulation After Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Series

Cricket is a very multi-layered sport and there is no denying this fact. Three formats, countless rules, and the dependency of a game on the conditions—the possibilities in a game of cricket are countless, and sometimes it can even leave the lawmakers of the sport in doubt. The recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series is being widely regarded as one of the greatest series that has ever been played on English soil after Ashes 2025, but injuries to Rishabh Pant and Chris Woakes ignited the debate around injury replacement substitutes.

Here Are The Three Major Rules That The BCCI Will Implement In Domestic Cricket

Short-Run Rule: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has now identified a method of curbing down the possibilities of taking short run. The fielding captain will now decide which batsman takes the strike if there is an attempted short run. "A deliberate short run is an attempt for batters to appear to run more than one run, while at least one batter deliberately does not make good their ground at one end. Batters may choose to abort a run, provided the umpire believes that there was no intention by the batter concerned to deceive the umpires or to score the run in which they didn't make their ground," the new ruling says, as quoted by Cricbuzz.

ALSO READ | India T20I Captain Suryakumar Yadav Clears Fitness Test As Selection Speculations Heat Up For Asia Cup 2025: Report

The Ball Phase-Out Rule: After the culmination of the Champions Trophy, the International Cricket Council (ICC) made a major change to the two new ball rule in ODI cricket. The BCCI is now set to implement this rule in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. As per the rule, the fielding team will have to pick only one ball amongst the two that will be used till the completion of innings.

Player Replacement Rule: The BCCI will reportedly allow like-for-like player replacement in case of an injured player in multi-day tournaments. The player will have to be like-for-like and will have to be a non-member playing of the squad. The match referee will approve the replacement after teams produce medical reports of the injured player.

ALSO READ | Dewald Brevis' Knock Falls Short! Marsh & Maxwell Steer AUS To Dramatic Two-Wicket Win, Claim Series With 2-1 Lead

The Noise Around Injury Substitution Rule

During the course of the series, India Head Coach Gautam Gambhir and English skipper Ben Stokes had their share of disagreements on the injury replacement substitute. Stokes had strongly opposed the idea of the injury substitute rule being introduced in the game, whereas Gautam Gambhir endorsed the idea of a substitute being brought in for serious injuries.