IPL 2024: How Impact Player rule has made life worse for all-rounders, bowlers and Team India

For the longest time there was silence over the benefits, or lack of, of the ‘Impact Player’ rule in IPL. Then came India captain Rohit Sharma's criticism and now a barrage of disagreement has appeared against what has been described as a "gimmick" by Australian legend Adam Gilchrist.

The rule, introduced in 2023, allows all IPL teams to replace a player (batter or baller) at any point in the game with an ‘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 had said.

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Former Australia captain and Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting has called it a "nightmare".

“I think for a coach and for the players, it’s probably not ideal,” he said.

Cricketers Axar Patel and Mukesh Kumar have slammed the rule, highlighting how it has impacted the all-rounder and bowlers.

“I am not a big fan of the rule, because as an allrounder I know that they will either take a proper batsman or a bowler, not an allrounder,” Axar pointed.

“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,” a miffed Mukesh said.

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Did you notice one thing? No one is complaining about the results. They are all pointing towards how the Impact Player rule has adversely impacted the balance of the game. Cricket is a contest between the bat and ball, it’s a 11 vs 11 sport, but the Impact Player rule has titlted the balance in favour of the batters which can be seen in the record scores posted in IPL 2024. And when a team makes a strategic mistake, the rule converts the contest into a 12 vs 11 match.

Impact Player rule came into play last season but back then the teams were still learning how to use it, but in 2024, they have mastered the move. Invariably it is used to name an extra batter which can help the team score big, batting first, or put up a solid chase, batting second.

IPL 2024 has witnessed a scoring rate of 9.42 which is the highest in the history of the tournament, as per Fox Sports. The previous best came last season which was the first season with the Impact Player rule.

Highest season scoring rate in IPL

2024: 9.42

2023: 8.99

2018: 8.64

2022: 8.54

2019: 8.41

Similarly, the records for the highest team totals in IPL have been rewritten multiple times this season.

Five of the top six team totals in IPL history were made this season while the previous best of 263/5, made by Royal Challengers Bengaluru, stood for 10 seasons.

Highest team totals in IPL history

287/3: SRH vs RCB (2024)

277/3: SRH vs MI (2024)

272/7: KKR vs DC (2024)

266/7: SRH vs DC (2024)

263/5: RCB vs PWI (2013)

262/7: RCB vs SRH (2024)

If anything, the Impact Player rule has made the batters bolder and allowed them to go after the bowlers from the very start, something that was visible in Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma's onslaught against Delhi Capitals when they put up 125 in just six overs to make a world record.

Sunrisers Hyderbaad, who have scored three of the top four team scores, had Head scoring big in all the games and was later substituted. The game plan is simple: go hard on the bowlers from the start and then bring on an extra bowler, as the Impact Player, if required.

There are more examples.

Shivam Dube is the highest run-getter for Chennai Super Kings so far with 245 runs from seven matches and is seen as someone who will be picked in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad. He has come on as an Impact Player three times this season.

Sai Sudharsan has been Gujarat Titans’ second-highest run-getter with 269 runs from eight games. Even he has come on as Impact Player three times this season.

The news IPL and Punjab Kings sensation Ashutosh Sharma has been substituted in twice this season, often batting at No.8 spot. That’s what the Impact Player rule has done. It has allowed IPL teams to stretch their batting to No. 8, eventually leading to multiple 250-plus scores in 2024.

A setback for all-rounders

As pointed out by Axar, Impact Player rule has especially been a big disadvantage for the all-rounders who seem to be becoming irrelevant in IPL 2024. While Dube is going great with the bat and is seen as an all-rounder option for the T20 World Cup, he is yet to bowl a single ball this season. He wasn’t used last year either while being used sparingly in the four seasons before it - 2 overs, 5 overs, 9 overs and 1.4 overs respectively.

Rahul Tewatia has not bowled a single over, Washington Sundar has bowled just five overs while Riyan Parag has bowled one. In fact, Hardik Pandya is the only Indian all-rounder who is playing both roles consistently this IPL season and if India are to look for his replacements for World Cup, not sure who the selectors can pick with players largely reduced to only one role.