IPL 2024: How the Impact Player Rule is Doing Cricket More Harm Than Good

‘Impact Player’ has been the buzzword in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The house has remained divided on the rule that was introduced in 2023. The current season has seen teams use the rule to their advantage and more often than not, bowlers have been on the receiving end as sides have consistently beefed up their batting and have allowed freedom to their batters to go big right from ball one.

Even half-fit players (read KL Rahul, Jos Buttler, Rinku Singh) have used the rule to their advantage and have taken the field only when it was their turn to bat. In 38 matches, there have been 17 200+ totals and plenty of 190+ totals. There have been four 250+ totals and three of them – 277/3, 287/3, 266/7 – were posted by Sunrisers Hyderabad alone, who have been the most belligerent team this season.

There have been growing voices of concern suggesting that the rule is massively favouring the batters and slowly killing the impact of all-rounders but former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly, under whom the rule was first introduced in 2022 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, feels “good" all-rounders will continue to find a way and it’s only the “average" ones who are not relevant anymore.

“Little bit (affected) but good all-rounder still play, isn’t it? Hardik Pandya is still playing. You look at Rashid (Khan), he’s playing. He’s in the XI straight away, so good ones will always play. Glenn Maxwell played, obviously, he’s taken a bit of a break, Mitch (Mitchell) Marsh played for us, although he didn’t get enough runs for us. But good ones will always be a part because they contribute either with the bat or with the ball.

“I don’t think it diminishes the all-rounder’s role but then for average all-rounders you have the option of bringing in a better batsman (batter) and a better bowler, but the good ones will always find a place in the side," said Delhi Capitals Director of Cricket in media interaction.

Ganguly, however, failed to find an ally in his own dugout as head coach Ricky Ponting had a different take before DC’s game against SRH. The Aussie opined that the rule is not ideal for a coach and players, and is only adding to the entertainment quotient of the game.

“You know you can play your specialists. You can play a specialist batsman down to No.8, and then you can change him in the second innings. Rohit (Sharma) gave examples of Shivam Dube and Washington Sundar not bowling. I think for a coach and for the players, it’s probably not ideal, but I think what this game tries to do is entertain people," the legend said.

“The T20 game is an entertainment package and I think it’s probably better to ask the spectators what they think about the Impact Player because if everyone is loving the fact that teams are making 220 to 250 in a lot of games, it should stay. But if the spectators aren’t liking it as much, there’s no reason why it couldn’t go back to just 11 vs 11," Ponting had said.

‘Cricket is played by 11 players… ‘

A couple of days after explaining his thoughts on the rule, Ponting wants it to be kept away from the international circuit and feels cricket should remain an eleven-v-eleven game.

“I wouldn’t like to see it actually in international cricket and that doesn’t mean I’m not a fan of it here. International cricket’s all about the team that has their strongest 11 or their strongest squad of 15 in a World Cup. That’s what World Cups are all about. You got 15 players there and you got to manage those players through. The ups and downs of the World Cup and the team that’s left standing the strongest at the end will win. So I think leave it as is. If I was on any international cricket board or committee now, I’d be saying just leave the international game the way it is," says Ponting.

Last week, India captain Rohit Sharma had echoed similar sentiments during an interaction with Adam Gilchirst and Michael Vaughan on a podcast and explained in detail how plenty is being taken away from the game just to make it more entertaining.

“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. 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," Rohit had said on ‘Club Prairie Fire’ podcast.

“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," he further explained.

Gujarat Titans Director of Cricket Vikram Solanki agrees that there has been a big push in the entertainment bit of the contest but laments the dilution of all-rounder’s role. The former England cricketer adds that importance of all-rounders needs to be maintained in franchise/domestic circuit.

“I think you are diluting the importance of an all-rounder in a team and that’s a shame because you think of all the great all-rounders who have played in the past and they’re wonderful entertainers and people admire them for a fact that they can create the impact with both bat and ball.

“I look at it this way that if you need all-rounders in international formats then we should maintain the importance in franchise and domestic cricket. I get the entertainment bit but I have watched, played and loved the game when it was 11-a-side," says Solanki.

Diminishing a rare commodity

The all-rounders have been a rare commodity in India and the Impact Player rule has further diminished their participation in the IPL – India’s biggest T20 league which is supposed to be the quality feeder line for the national side. If the rule is not in play in the international circuit, is it a wise choice to put your own players under the pump just for entertainment?

“Whoever is making the rules, they are thinking that everything will work as per batter’s convenience," comes Axar Patel’s crisp response at a select media interaction in Delhi on Monday.

“Obviously, it has been difficult (for the bowlers). According to me, it’s difficult but obviously you will have the opportunity as well that you can perform well in that situation, if you have the skills then how you can use them.

“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. That is why I am not a big fan of the rule, because as an all-rounder I know that they will either take a proper batsman or a bowler, not an all-rounder," explains the DC all-rounder.

Axar’s DC teammate Mukesh wants normalcy to be restored in the cash-rich league and if that is not going to be the case, the Bengal seamer advocates for mor even tracks.

“If 12 players are not playing at the international level, then what is the need of it in IPL? With 12 players, even if four wickets are down, the next player is not scared of getting out or making the team stable, they come and play their shots. So either the nature of tracks should be changed or 12 players should not be allowed," says Mukesh.

Mukesh’s India teammate Mohammed Siraj joined the bandwagon ahead of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s fixture vs Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday and asserted the batters are coming out swinging at absolutely everything.

“Please remove this Impact Sub thing (laughs), the wickets are already flat and there’s nothing for the bowlers in it, previously, it used to be slow at times, but the batters now come out swinging at absolutely everything," Siraj had said at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

More than the imbalance between bat and ball and the growing voices, the Impact Player rule is not serving any purpose to Indian cricket. It is instead allowing fewer opportunities to identify, nurture and groom all-rounders who continue to be high in demand but low on supply. It’s high time the decision makers take note of the concerns put forward by former and current cricketers, and take the necessary decisions for the 2025 edition.