"Suddenly it will bring more thrill" - Aakash Chopra suggests 5 rule changes ahead of IPL 2026

Former India player Aakash Chopra has suggested five rule changes ahead of the next edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2026). He opined that teams should be awarded a bonus point for registering resounding wins, highlighting that it would make the latter stages of the tournament more exciting.

The number of points is the primary criterion to rank teams on the IPL points table. The number of wins and the net run rate are the next two criteria to differentiate teams that finish with equal points.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener suggested the introduction of a bonus point for emphatic wins to make the business end of the IPL more thrilling.

"Bring a bonus point. There is a lot of focus on net run rate currently. I feel it does not bring that much thrill on a day-to-day basis. The simple funda is to give a bonus point if you play 20 percent better than the opposing team. If you score 200 runs, stop the opposition for less than 160. If you are chasing 200, do it in 16 overs, which means you played 20 percent fewer overs," Chopra said (2:15).

"Teams will come on odd points and it will become a little more thrilling. One might not feel it that much at the start, but when we reach the business end of the tournament, suddenly it will bring more thrill. Wherever you are in a season, you are never really out of it. A string of wins with bonus points will cover up for a few losses," he added.

Chopra opined that a substitute player should be allowed for a serious injury, as is done for a concussion.

"You get a like-for-like concussion substitute. Why not do it for a serious injury as well? The BCCI is already doing that in first-class cricket. We are the flagbearers. We restarted the saliva use. Similarly, a replacement for a serious injury, let's do that in the IPL because we are the path setters," he observed.

As an injury replacement isn't allowed in international cricket, Rishabh Pant had to bat with a broken bone in his foot in India's first innings of the fourth Test of the recent Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. Chris Woakes walked out to bat with a dislocated shoulder in England's second innings of the final Test of the same series, but couldn't prevent India from registering a win.

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"It exists, but it is never exercised" - Aakash Chopra on IPL's mid-season transfer rule

Shamar Joseph didn't play a single game for LSG in IPL 2025. [P/C: iplt20.com]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra suggested a way to help teams exercise the IPL's mid-season transfer rule.

"It exists, but it is never exercised. That is mid-season transfer. If you haven't put a player's name in your 16-player list, including the sub options, in the first eight matches, make him automatically available. Every team should mandatorily nominate three such players. Can you bring the unused resources to the table to uplift the tournament's standard?" he said (6:20).

The former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) player reckoned that a marking should be used for leg-side wides.

"My fourth suggestion is about the leg-side wide. If you have watched attentively, there is a line far away from the stumps and another close to them. Can that line be kept as the wide mark? The ball should be a wide on the leg side only if it goes outside that. As soon as the ball goes minutely outside the leg stump, it's called a wide now. Sometimes you feel it's unfair because it's not unplayable," Chopra elaborated.

To conclude, Aakash Chopra wondered whether the Power Surge rule from the Big Bash League (BBL) can be introduced in the IPL as well, with two overs of powerplay being taken anytime by the batting side. He pointed out that teams can use it to push for a bigger win, especially if a bonus point is also involved.