BCCI has partnered up with the Tata group, the title sponsors of the IPL, to plant 500 tree saplings for every dot ball bowled during the two qualifiers, the eliminator, and the final of IPL 2024.

This is an initiative which began last year, ahead of the IPL 2023 playoffs. During the course of those four games, 294 dot balls were bowled, resulting in nearly 150,000 tree saplings getting planted.

To commemorate the initiative, dot balls have been replaced by tree symbols in the score tickers on TV and online coverage of the IPL 2024 playoffs.

IPL 2024: How many trees have been planted so far?

This year, the Qualifier 1 between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad saw 73 dot balls being bowled, 43 by KKR and 30 by SRH. It resulted in 36,500 tree saplings being planted. T Natarajan and Mitchell Starc were the highest contributors with 11 dot balls (and consequently 5500 trees) each.

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KKR won that game comfortably to book a place in Qualifier 2 in Chennai, where they will face Rajasthan Royals, who beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Eliminator by four wickets.

The RR-RCB game saw almost an identical number of dot balls being bowled as that in Qualifier 1 – 74. 39 of those came from the Rajasthan bowlers, with Trent Boult leading the chart with as many as 14 dot balls, while 35 dot balls were bowled by the RCB bowlers, with Cameron Green and Lockie Ferguson being the highest contributors with nine each.

The 74 dot balls bowled in the Eliminator amount to 37,000 tree saplings getting planted, taking the combined count to 73,500 so far, with two more playoff games to go.