Why green tree emoji is being used in place of dot balls in IPL 2023 play-offs

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 has reached its business end as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Gujarat Titans (GT) are engaged in the first play-offs of the season. Gujarat won the toss and invited Chennai to bat first at their home venue Chepauk and as expected the flow of runs remained a bit slow, considering the nature of the track.

While this was the scene on the pitch, fans noticed tree emoticons being used on the scorecard ticker every time a dot ball was delivered during the course of CSK innings, who scored 172/7 in 20 overs.

While many wondered the reason behind the same, it was confirmed by Simon Doull on-air that it was to represent BCCI's brand new initiative towards safeguarding the environment. As per the information shared by Doull, BCCI plans to plant 500 trees for each dot ball. The initiative drew plenty of reaction on social media with many hailing the step taken by the BCCI.

This is not the first time an initiative towards safeguarding the environment has been witnessed in the IPL. Royal Challengers Bangalore's "RCB Go Green Initiative" too comes with a similar objective. The team dons Green Jerseys once in a season to spread awareness about keeping the planet clean and healthy.

Earlier this season, Gujarat players were spotted wearing a lavender jersey, a move taken to raise awareness about cancer.

Gujarat aren't the first IPL side to don the Lavender jersey. In 2015, Delhi Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils) had taken a similar initiative led by former India cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who is a cancer survivor himself.