Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma criticises the Impact Player rule and believes that the rule slightly suppresses the all-rounder’s role in the match. Rohit also highlights that cricket is a game of 11, not 12.
BCCI introduced the Impact Player rule in 2023 and continued to use it in this year’s Indian Premier League. Though it gives an extra option for the team, Rohit feels that the introduction of the rule might change the nature of the T20 format.
During a podcast with Adam Gilchrist, Rohit Sharma explains why the “Impact Player Rule” is not going to help the Indian cricket going ahead.
“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,” he said on the podcast “Club Prairie Fire.”
Rohit Sharma feels that the new rule is not helping the Indian all-rounders like Shivam Dube and Washington Sundar. Though Shivam Dube remains the leading run scorer for the Chennai Super Kings this season, he didn’t get a chance to expose his bowling ability.
On the other hand, Sundar being an allrounder hardly gets a chance to play for Sunrisers Hyderabad this season.
“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.
“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 said.
Speaking on Mumbai Indians, the five-time champions struggle to make a consistence performance under Hardik Pandya. The team have managed to register only a couple of victories in 6 games so far this season.
How does the Impact Player Rule Affect the Allrounders?
In the first match of the season which was played between CSK and RCB, Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the toss and opted to bat first.
As CSK were forced to bowl first, Chennai Super Kings included Mustafizur Rahman in their playing 11 for the first inning and replaced him with Shivam Dube for the second innings. This made Dube to play as a pure batter instead of an allrounder.
This kind of player switching options restricts their all rounding performance and forces them to shine in any one department.
