The impact player rule became a major point of discussion in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 with a majority of players criticizing it, especially for preventing allrounders from developing. Big guns like Rohit Sharma and David Miller have already said they aren’t ‘big fans’ of the rule but veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has a different opinion.
Speaking with former India captain Kris Srikkanth on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said the ‘Impact Player’ rule has introduced a strategic element into the cash-rich tournament that will go away if the rule is scrapped.
“Why I think the Impact Player rule is not so bad is because it gives a little more value for strategy,” Ashwin said on Kris Srikkanth’s YouTube show Cheeky Cheeka.
“The other side of that argument is it doesn’t encourage allrounders. But no one is stopping them. In this generation, they don’t do it [batters bowling and vice-versa]. It’s not like they’re discouraged because of the Impact Player rule. Look at Venkatesh Iyer, he’s currently rocking for Lancashire. There’s an opportunity for innovation and it makes the game fairer.”
Ashwin further quoted an example from Qualifier 2 of IPL 2024 to explain his point.
“Sunrisers [Hyderabad] brought in Shahbaz Ahmed as an Impact Player [vs Rajasthan Royals, after hitting 175 for 9 batting first]; he went on to become a match-winner [with 3 for 23]. When dew has the potential to make games one-sided, teams bowling second get an extra option as a counter. If you’re batting second, you can tactically make a substitution by offloading the extra bowler for a batter,” he said.
“Games are tighter; an extra player is getting to play. Barring Kolkata or Mumbai, where scores skyrocketed, they haven’t been a drastic change elsewhere. Like at Punjab Kings’ home venue [Mullanpur], they were all 160-170 games
“Shahbaz Ahmed, Shivam Dube most importantly, Dhruv Jurel… If not for the Impact Player rule, he may have never gotten the chance. So the emergence of a lot of players has happened. I’m not saying that’s the only way for players to emerge, but it’s not so bad,” he added.
Comments
0 comment