Rohit Sharma has stated that he is not a fan of the IPL’s ‘Impact Player’ rule, which was introduced in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament of 2022-23. Speaking on the most recent episode of the Club Prairie Fire Podcast, the India captain lamented the negative impact of allrounder development.
“I generally feel that it is going to hold back [allrounders] because eventually cricket is played by 11 players, not 12 players,” Rohit said on the podcast, which also featured Adam Gilchrist and Michael Vaughan. “I’m not a big fan of impact player. You are taking out so much from the game just to make it little entertaining for the people around. But if you look [at] genuinely just cricketing aspect of it… I can give you so many examples – guys like Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube are not getting to bowl, which for us [India team] is not a good thing.”
Rohit’s comments come as India’s roster is about to be announced ahead of the T20 World Cup. The champions of the initial rounds in 2007 confront the problem of finding the correct balance, since their top-order hitters lack bowling experience. Rohit will rely on Hardik Pandya to restore form as a seam-bowling all-rounder, while Ravindra Jadeja is the spin-bowling equivalent.
India played Dube in their last T20I series before the IPL, and the all-rounder took two wickets in seven overs while scoring 124 runs at a strike rate of 158.97. The 30-year-old has continued his fine form with the bat for the Chennai Super Kings, but the ‘Impact Substitute’ policy has rendered his bowling services ineffective. Similarly, Sunrisers Hyderabad has needed Washington to bowl only three overs in six games.
The rule might have a huge impact on Dube’s selection in the squad, particularly given his superb spin-hitting abilities, which India requires in the middle-order on the slower surfaces of the Caribbean. Rohit has no obvious suggestions for the IPL’s future under this rule.
“I don’t know what you can do about it, but I’m not a fan of it [the rule] honestly speaking,” he said. “Because there’s obviously 12 players for you to select from and whoever that impact player is, you can see how the game is going and change it later depending on what you need, what pitch is behaving.
“If you bat well, if you don’t lose wickets, you can add another bowler so it gives you an option of having six or seven bowlers. You don’t need that extra batter because a lot of the teams actually upfront are batting well, and then you hardly see Nos. 7 or 8 coming to bat.”
For more updates and insights on IPL 2024, visit CricAdvisor, your ultimate cricket companion
