India skipper Rohit Sharma has expressed his reservations over the ‘Impact Player’ rule in the Indian Premier League (IPL), stating that it is holding back the all-rounders.
The Impact Player rule was introduced in IPL 2023. Under this rule, each team can name as many as four substitute players along with their playing XI at the toss. One of them can replace a member from the original XI during the match and the player will be called Impact Player.
“I am not a big fan of Impact sub rule. It is going to hold all rounders back, eventually cricket is played by 11 players not 12 players. You are taking out so much from game to make it entertaining for people around,” Rohit said on “Club Prairie Fire” podcast.
The former Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper also pointed out that this rule isn’t allowing all-rounders like Shivam Dube and Washington Sundar to bowl in matches.
“If you look just from the cricketing aspect of it I feel guys like Shivam Dube and Washington Sundar aren’t getting to bowl, which for us is not a good thing.
“I don’t know what you can do about it. There are 12 players for you, it is entertaining, you can bring on the impact player after watching how the game is going, how the pitch is behaving.
“If you bat well and you don’t lose wickets, you can add another bowler, it gives you an option of six or seven bowlers. You don’t require that extra batter because a lot of teams are batting well up front and you hardly see a No 7 or No 8 coming to bat,” Rohit remarked.
Australian legend Adam Gilchrist also echoed with Rohit’s sentiments, opining that the ‘Impact Player’ rule is a compromise with the “fundamental” of the game.
“I think it has added something special. It’s all built for spectators and for their entertainment. You are compromising the fundamental of the cricket,” Gilchrist stated.
“Why T20 was so entertaining, because you were not compromising with the integrity of cricket. It is 11 vs 11, same size field, the field restrictions are also the same. There was no gimmick needed. I think it is bit concerning."
“They showed the stats 250+ score in 2008-2023 IPL was only 2 times and this year IPL it’s already 4 250+ scores. It’s not bad bowling, it’s just people coming free mindset and smacking all over the part. That’s how T20 cricket played these days,” he explained.
