||India Corrospondent||

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has recently decided that there will be no 'soft signals' in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). As per the report in The Sportstar, the IPL governing council has revised the playing conditions for the cash-rich league, removing the soft signal rule which has become a matter of debate in recent times. Even India captain Virat Kohli too had spoken against it during the ongoing series against England as well.

"After approval by the Governing Council, the board has updated the Appendix D – Clause 2.2.2 – of the Match Playing Conditions. The franchises have been informed that the 'soft signal has been removed.'," the report stated.

However, Virat Kohli opened up on this after the host faced issues because of this.

"There was an instance during the Test series when I was next to Jinks (Ajinkya Rahane) and he clearly caught the ball but he wasn’t sure so we went upstairs. If it is a half and half effort and the fielder is in doubt, there is no way the umpire from square leg can see it clearly. The soft signal becomes that important and it becomes tricky. I don’t know why there can’t be an ‘I don’t know’ call with the umpires as well. It is similar to umpire’s call as well. These are decisions that can change the course of the game, especially in these big games. We were on the receiving side today, and tomorrow it could be some other team. You want these ironed out and keep the game really simple and linear. It isn’t ideal in high pressure games and have a lot of clarity on the field," Virat Kohli had said at the post-match presentation.

Later, he also questioned the umpire's call.

"I played for a long time when there was no DRS. Right. If the umpire made a decision, whether the batsman liked it or not, it stayed like that. Vice versa the umpire gave it not out and it was out, it stayed like that, whether it was marginal or not," said Kohli prior to the first ODI of a three-match series against England.

"According to me, umpire's call right now is creating a lot of confusion. When you get bowled as a batsman, you don't expect the ball to hit more than 50 per cent into the stumps to consider yourself bowled. So from basic cricket common-sense, I don’t think that there should be any debate on that. If the ball is clipping the stumps, that should be out whether you like it or not, you lose the review," he again shared.