With auctions for the 2016 season slated for September 17, wherein 135 Indian and 141 foreign players will go under the hammer, HIL chairman Narinder Batra announced the new rules at a press conference in a city hotel here today.
Apart from the goal-scoring system, which is the highlight of the new innovation, franchisee's will also have 20, instead of the usual 24 players, in their squad. It will be a composition of 12 Indian and eight foreign players per side.
As per the new goal-scoring points system, the HIL 2016 will be known as the most competitive and first of its kind in any hockey competition where field goals will be given more priority than penalty corners.
In the HIL 2016 matches, 2 goal points will be awarded for every Field Goal to encourage more skillful and tactical hockey. To curb rough tackles and maintain discipline among players, 2 goal points will awarded to every Penalty-Stroke Goal scored other than resulting from penalty corner.