Three big rule changes in PKL season 9 that you probably didn't know

These new amendments in the rule book will benefit players in a major way.

The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 9 is off to a great start with the start of the Triple Panga. The addition of fans to the stadium was a major boost after season 7 due to the Pandemic and the Bengaluru Bulls enjoyed their fan's support winning a tough battle against Telugu Titans.

There are three new changes added to Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 9 which can benefit the team and make an impact on players' careers. In this article let us look at the new rules added.

1. Lobby Rule 

The lobby rule in PKL has been in controversy for the past eight seasons. The raider is deemed to enter the lobby area only when they touch any part of the defender's body but if the raiders do not touch the defenders and enter the lobby area then they are ruled out. 

Defenders sometimes unknowingly attempt to tackle the raiders even though the raiders enter the lobby without touch and in this situation, all the defenders who were deemed in this tackle are out and those points are assigned to the raiding team.

The lobby area is the extra space ( yellow area ) that the raiders make use of after a touch on the defender. 

This rule has been in the limelight for a long since the raiders take this rule to their advantage and claim the points. There was a situation where Mohammed Nabibakash from Bengal Warriors claimed 8 points in a single raid without a touch. All six defenders followed Nabibaksh for the tackle unknowingly and fell into the trap of the Lobby Rule.

Bengaluru Bulls were all out and lost two more crucial points on the all-out and this incident created a lot of stir during the last season. Many experts including the commentators were against the rule and many would now be happy with the rule being tweaked. 

2. Extra players are allowed in the match day squad

All the teams from season 9 can field 14 players in the match-day squad. Until PKL season 8 only 12 players were allowed to enter the match-day squad. This rule will be of great use to youngsters who can now be included regularly and also play as substitutes.

With the league running for more than three months an injury to a player means he can be ruled out for the entire league. In this case, if the youngsters are tested whenever possible they will be ready to replace the injured players quickly by playing the PKL before and having a bit of experience. The coach will also have diverse options to pick the playing 7.

3. Substitutions

Until the PKL season 8 teams were only allowed to make a total of 5 changes during the entire duration of 40 minutes plus a change during the half-time mark. But the current rule now states that the teams from now make the same number of substitutions (5) in the entire match plus a change during the mid-way stage along with making two substitutions in the allotted strategic timeouts in both halves. In total, a team is now allowed to make 8 substitutions.

From the previous rule of making the changes in match day squad similarly higher, the substitutions higher will the chances to see young talents taking centre stage. In the past, we have seen substitutes turning the entire match into their own hands.