 "Which Impact Player has made the most impact in IPL 2024?")
The impact Player rule was introduced ahead of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) to give teams a chance to bring in a player to restore balance to the side, if needed. Similar to football’s substitute rule, it allows teams to make a tactical change.
Except, this season, it has been used, rather abused, to rack up big scores . A format that had been largely batter-friendly was skewed even further.
The mantra is simple: Teams batting first play an extra big-hitting batsman down the order, who can then be replaced by a bowler when they defend the target. Alternatively, a bowler can be replaced if they bat second.
“When T20 came into being, the overs shrunk to 20 overs per innings but the batters remained the same. So, automatically that was a big advantage. Bowlers still had the restriction on how many overs you could bowl. There is a little more freedom and license for the batters to go for the bowling and plan attack from ball number one. So, it has always been skewed in favour of the batters, more so in the T20 cricket in comparison to other formats. What we found out is that because the format is so heavily loaded in favour of a batter, the Impact Batter is making a greater impact that an Impact Bowler,” said former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar on First Sport.
But it is the fans who have the final say, he conceded. “I don’t think the fans are complaining! If fans get put off, then we have to have a look at it. We (experts) don’t matter. Former players who played Test cricket don’t matter. It is really the fans who make the event. Different people have different expectations. If fans like it, I don’t think anything will change too much,” he added.
Former Australia captain and current Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting agrees that it caters to the fans’ attention. “It’d be really interesting to hear what the public think about it. If the everyday viewer really likes it and thinks it’s good, then it can continue.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“If the average person gets a bit confused by it and doesn’t know what’s going on - an Impact Player here, someone goes in, someone comes out - if they are confused by it [then you have a rethink]. At the end of the day, we’ve got to think about the product that’s going there and what everyone’s watching as well,” he added.
India captain Rohit Sharma isn't a fan . “I’m not a big fan of impact player. You are taking out so much from the game just to make it little entertainment 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,” the Mumbai Indians cricketer said on the Club Prairie Podcast, which is co-hosted Adam Gilchrist and Michael Vaughan.
After 39 IPL matches this season, all teams, but one, have used the Impact Player option. Only in Lucknow Super Giants vs Chennai Super Kings on 19 April did a team not use the Impact Player. LSG stuck by the same playing XI throughout the contest and picked up an 8-wicket win.
The numbers are glaringly obvious. The scoring rate has gone up to 9.42 this season and has remained on the upward trajectory. The team totals have never been broken this easily either. 287/3 , 277/3 , 272/7 , 266/7 and 262/7 - five of the six biggest IPL totals have come just this half season alone.
Impact Player’s contribution (by team)
| Team | Runs | Wickets |
|---|---|---|
| CSK | 81 | 5 |
| DC | 72 | 0 |
| GT | 128 | 3 |
| KKR | 3 | 4 |
| LSG | 54 | 1 |
| MI | 113 | 1 |
| PBKS | 138 | 0 |
| RR | 189 | 3 |
| RCB | 108 | 2 |
| SRH | 74 | 3 |
Sunrisers Hyderabad have been at the forefront of this mayhem-inducing hitting. They’ve struck 250-plus scores thrice already (vs Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals). Travis Head has been pivotal in all three big scores. He scored 62, 102 and 89 against MI, RCB and DC respectively as the 2016 IPL champions walloped 277, 287 and 266 in three contests. Having posted mammoth totals on the board, Head was substituted in each match and replaced with a bowler. In all three matches, SRH would go on to win.
But they’re not the ones making the most out of the Impact Player rule. As far as seeing the Impact Player come on and be useful for the team is concerned, IPL table-toppers Rajasthan Royals have made the most of the option. The Sanju Samson-led side has seen 189 runs and three wickets produced by the Impact Player.
Punjab Kings have seen 138 runs and 0 wickets by the Impact Player, Gujarat Titans with 128 runs and 3 wickets, and Mumbai Indians with 113 runs and a wicket. Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders have seen the least impact by the Impact Player with just 3 runs but four wickets. In the bowling department, only Chennai Super Kings have done better with five wickets by the Impact Player.
With allrounders largely rendered useless with the Impact Player rule, only twice has the substituted player both batted and bowled in the same match. Arshad Khan did it during Lucknow Super Giants vs Kolkata Knight Riders and Washington Sundar got the opportunity in Delhi Capitals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Most substitution in
| Player | Times |
|---|---|
| Abishek Porel | 5 |
| Prabhsimran Singh | 3 |
| Sai Sudharsan | 3 |
| Shivam Dube | 3 |
| Suyash Sharma | 2 |
| Nandre Burger | 2 |
| Deepak Hooda | 2 |
| Mohit Sharma | 2 |
| Dewald Brevis | 2 |
| Mahipal Lomror | 2 |
Abishek Porel of Delhi Capitals has been introduced the most number of times - five - to turn a game around. Then CSK’s Shivam Dube, PBKS’ Prabhsimran Singh and GT’s Sai Sudharsan have been sent in the joint-second most number of times - three each - by respective team management.
Most substituted off
| Player | Times |
|---|---|
| Khaleel Ahmed | 6 |
| Arshdeep Singh | 5 |
| Yash Dayal | 4 |
| Mohit Sharma | 4 |
| Travis Head | 4 |
| Prabhsimran Singh | 3 |
| Yuzvendra Chahal | 3 |
| Quinton de Kock | 3 |
| Suryakumar Yadav | 3 |
| Rinku Singh | 3 |
At the other end of the rule sit the players who have been substituted the most. Not surprisingly, they are tailenders who are used with the ball in the first innings and are then taken off for a batter in the second.
Khaleel Ahmed of Delhi Capitals has been replaced six times, Arshdeep Singh of Punjab Kings has been removed five times while Yash Dayal (RCB), Mohit Sharma (GT) and Head (SRH) have been taken off four times.
A host of players have been taken off three times - Prabhsimran Singh (PBKS), Yuzvendra Chahal (RR), Quinton de Kock (LSG), Suryakumar Yadav (MI), Rinku Singh (KKR) and Ajinkya Rahane (CSK).
When do teams make the substitution?
In all but 12 innings the teams used the Impact Player option at the end of the first essay. In 12 situations, teams were forced to make the change early as they struggled for a big score.
Impact Player change in the same innings:
Match 2: DC vs PBKS by DC
Match 14: MI vs RR by MI
Match 22: KKR vs CSK by KKR
Match 23: PBKS vs SRH by SRH
Match 25: MI vs RCB by RCB
Match 26: LSG vs DC by LSG
Match 27: PBKS vs RR by PBKS
Match 28: KKR vs LSG by LSG
Match 32: GT vs DC by GT
Match 34: LSG vs CSK by CSK
Match 35: DC vs SRH by SRH
Match 37: PBKS vs GT by PBKS
Which Impact Players players have made the most impact?
Impactful Batters (Most runs by player coming on)
| Player | Runs |
|---|---|
| Jos Buttler | 142 |
| Sai Sudharsan | 113 |
| Shivam Dube | 80 |
| Ashutosh Sharma | 62 |
| Suryakumar Yadav | 52 |
| Mahipal Lomror | 50 |
| Prabhsimran Singh | 49 |
| Dewald Brevis | 46 |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | 39 |
| Deepak Hooda | 36 |
Jos Buttler of the Rajasthan Royals has been the highest scorer when coming on as a substitute for his side. He replaced Kuldeep Sen against Kolkata Knight Riders on 16 April and scored an unbeaten 107 runs from 60 balls in what was a staggering 224-run chase - an IPL record. In total, from two innings, he’s scored 142 runs when brought on by the team.
Next on the list is GT’s Sai Sudharsan with 113 runs from three innings, Dube is third with 80 runs from the same number of innings. The top five is rounded off by PBKS’ Ashutosh Sharma (62 runs) and MI’s Suryakumar Yadav (52 runs).
Impactful Bowlers (Most wickets by player coming on)
| Player | Wickets |
|---|---|
| Matheesha Pathirana | 5 |
| Vaibhav Arora | 4 |
| Nandre Burger | 3 |
| Mohit Sharma | 3 |
| Mayank Markande | 2 |
| Yash Dayal | 1 |
| Vijaykumar Vyshak | 1 |
| Washington Sundar | 1 |
| M Siddharth | 1 |
| Akash Madhwal | 1 |
Over in the bowling department, Matheesha Pathirana has taken five wickets after coming on twice for Chennai Super Kings. Four of those wickets came against Mumbai Indians in a superlative 4/28 show. The other wicket came against Gujarat Titans.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ Vaibhav Arora is right behind the Sri Lankan bowler with four wickets from two matches. He picked up three wickets against Delhi Capitals and one against Rajasthan Royals.
Nandre Burger (RR) and Mohit Sharma (GT) both accumulated three wickets each with Mayank Markande (SRH) taking two.
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