Each player is required to go through a bat check during the match. So far, Sunil Narine and Anrich Nortje’s bats have failed the gauge test in IPL 2025. Moreover, each team was given a bat gauge to test the bats on their own.
The ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has recently witnessed a unique change in umpires’ actions. They are time and again checking the bats of batters for thickness, and if they don’t pass through the gauge, the players are asked to change it.
Umpires checking bats is not happening for the first time in the IPL. It has happened before, but it used to happen a day before the match, and randomly, the bats were being checked. In IPL 2025, the umpires check each bat being used live in the game.
According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, the move has been made to maintain the balance between bat and ball. It ensures that the batters are not taking an undue advantage by using bigger bats. The earlier process had a loophole. With the bats being checked a day before the match, a player could get one bat tested and walk in with another on the match day.
The umpires check the bat dimensions during the match for the same reason. The IPL governing council has not issued an official statement, but the rule was formally introduced on April 13.
IPL adopted the rule initially adopted by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2018. They introduced checks on bat sizes in domestic playing conditions conforming to Law 5 of the MCC’s Laws of Cricket, which restricts the thickness of bat edges to 4cm (1.56 inches), the overall depth of bats to 6.7cm (2.64 inches), and their width to 10.8cm (4.25 inches).
Accordingly, IPL informed all the teams before making the bat checks mandatory on April 13. Since then, only two bats have failed the gauge test – they belonged to the KKR players – Sunil Narine and Anrich Nortje
