NEW DELHI: Former international umpire Simon Taufel has advocated changes to T20 cricket to restore a better balance between bat and ball, proposing that teams be allowed to have one bowler deliver five overs instead of the current four-over limit.

Under existing rules, no bowler can bowl more than four overs in a T20 match, but Taufel - widely regarded as one of the finest umpires of the modern era - feels easing this restriction for a single bowler could introduce greater tactical depth to the format.

"I've made a couple of suggestions to a couple of different leagues, which are yet to be given the time of day. But I'd love to see - I'd love to see again - bat and ball be more equalised in limited-overs cricket," the 54-year-old Australian told Cricbuzz.

"I'd love to see in T20 cricket, one bowler bowl a fifth over. If a batter can be out there for the whole innings and score 100 from ball number one, we're limiting all the bowlers to four overs."

"Can we actually maybe give one bowler one extra over, to try to even up a dominant batter versus a dominant bowler? You know, so those sorts of things. I'd just like to see how we can rebalance the scales a bit," he added.

Taufel, a five-time ICC Umpire of the Year winner from 2004 to 2008, said he is not in favour of several recent rule changes, including the Impact Player rule and the introduction of strategic timeouts.

"Not all changes are good. Sometimes things aren't broken. And we go changing things just for the sake of a marketing gimmick, which, we've got to be careful in that space," he said.

When further prodded, Taufel said: "Well, look, IPL has the Impact Player. ILT20 has (a) Super Sub. My core cricket tells me that I'd love to see 11 (players taking) on 11. I'd love to see all-rounders, more all-rounders in the game."

"I'd love to see the strategy of 11 on 11, not changed or impacted because of an impact player who might only bat for two balls and doesn't field. Where is the value in that? I do like those traditional aspects of the game..."

"The timeouts - you know, they certainly break the momentum, and they do sort of cause that pregnant pause in the game. Maybe that deserves a bit of a rethink...," he added.