IPL 2025: Why there is a surge in bat checks by on-field umpires in Indian Premier League? Explained

The cricketers in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) will have to comply with the mandatory bat check before taking the strike going forward. In what came as an interesting visual for the first time during the Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) clash on April 13, will now become normal as the batters will have to undergo the ‘bat gauge’ equipment test before playing the first ball.

The development is completely different from what it used to be earlier. In previous times, umpires used to check bats inside the dressing room, something former cricketer Sanjay Bangar had also mentioned on air.

But it must be noted that that at the start of IPL 2025, the bat checks were done inside the dressing room. It was midway into the tournament that the willow testing started became public.

Why bat checks became a norm for every cricketer on field?

According to a Cricbuzz report, the decision for all the bats to be checked by a 'bat gauge' randomly by the umpires came into place after a weekly review meeting of IPL umpires last week. While the openers will have their bats checked by the fourth umpire before entering the field of play, the bats of other batters will be checked by the on-field umpires.

The bat checks surged in number after a number of defaulters in IPL 2025 after several teams felt that some of the batters were using bats bigger than mandated, especially in the meat area of the blade.

Surprisingly, two days after the bat check was put into practice, the bats of Kolkata Knight Riders' Sunil Narine and Anrich Nortje failed the bat gauge test during their match against Punjab Kings in Mullanpur.

What is the current mandate for bat size?

According to the law, the blade of the shall not exceed the following dimensions: width 4.25 inches, depth 2.64 inches and edges 1.56 inches. To add to that, bats of size 6 or less, the handle shall not exceed 52 percent of the overall length of the bat.

The material for covering the blade shall not exceed 0.1 cm in thickness and the maximum permitted thickness of the protected material placed on the toe of the blade is 0.3 cm.

What happens if a player fails bat gauge test?

In case a player fails a bat gauge test, he won't face any fine. Instead, he will have to change his bat and make sure the changed bat passes the test.

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