The Impact Player rule in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has drawn sharp criticism from several star players, including India skipper Rohit Sharma, who felt that the rule has hampered the growth of all-rounders.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah, however said that the rule is experimental and a call on its continuation in subsequent editions of the IPL will be taken after a discussion with stakeholders after the 2024 T20 World Cup.
“Impact Player is like a test case. We have implemented it slowly. The biggest advantage of it is that two Indian players are getting a chance (in each game), which is the most important,” Shah said.
“We will consult with the players, franchises, broadcasters (and take a call). This is not permanent (but) I am not saying that it will go. (We’ll see) if it’s making the game more competitive or not. Even then, if a player feels that this is not right, then we will talk to them. But no one has told us anything yet, so it will be decided after the World Cup,” he added.
The rule has been a hot topic of discussion during the ongoing IPL, with several other players besides Rohit, criticising the rule, which came into the IPL in 2023 after being trialled in the domestic Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, allowing teams to bring in a 12th player at any point in a match to replace a player from the original XI announced at the toss.
Among others to speak out against the rule were Axar Patel and Mukesh Kumar of Delhi Capitals (DC).
“Whoever is making the rules, they are thinking that everything will work as per the batters’ convenience. Obviously, it has been difficult (for the bowlers). Because of the Impact Sub rule, everyone gets one more batsman so they think that they will use the batsman in case the batting unit doesn’t go well. And whosoever comes to play, they don’t take much time and start (hitting) from the first ball because they know that they have a player in seventh or eighth place,” Axar had said.
“That is why I am not a big fan of the rule, because as an allrounder, I know that they will either take a proper batsman or a bowler, not an allrounder,” he added.
Australia’s Mitchell Starc, the costliest buy of this year’s IPL, said that the Impact Player rule had played a part in bowlers’ poor numbers this season. Starc, who plies his trade for the Kolkata Knight Riders has conceded runs at 11.37 so far.
“The Impact Player rule changes things a fair bit. Everyone gets to bat a lot deeper having a batting and a bowling XI. There’s a lot made of that rule throughout the tournament and there’s been a lot of high scores, which is the nature of the wickets and the grounds we play on here. When you have batters and batting allrounders come in at Nos. 8 or 9, it’s a long batting line-up,” he cited.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batting coach Mike Hussey termed that the rule had made IPL games “fun” to watch, but admitted that it was “scary” from a bowler’s point of view.
Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting also echoed similar views, stating that the rule was making the tournament a “better spectacle” but from a coach’s perspective, he termed it as a nightmarish one.