Teams eye 300-mark as new IPL season gets under way today

Bowlers have been allowed to use saliva to shine the ball in the Indian Premier League (IPL) but it is the batters who will be salivating at the prospect of breaching the 300-mark when the world’s richest Twenty20 league gets under way on Saturday.

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Lifting the saliva ban, a COVID-19 legacy, will allow the fast bowlers to try and generate some reverse swing in a format which treats them as cannon fodder.

But the continuation of the Impact Player rule, which allows teams to play an extra batter substituting a bowler in a match, will ensure it will rain fours and sixes across 13 venues over the next two months.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s 263-5 against Pune Warriors stood as the league’s highest total for a decade but that 2013 mark was bettered four times in last year’s IPL - three times by Sunrisers Hyderabad alone.

Hyderabad's 287-3 against Bengaluru is the new benchmark but Nathan Leamon, a strategy consultant with defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders, is among those who believe 300 is achievable.

"We have already seen a huge escalation in scores over the last two years," the former England lead analyst told ESPNcricinfo.

"It would be naive to think that we have got to the fullest extent of that - of teams learning how to take advantage of the new laws.