The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 has come up with a new rule, starting from the 16th edition of the league. Any team, on a given day, would virtually see 12 players in action. While eleven players per side has been the standard rule in the sport, an additional player would now be able to leave his mark on the field, as an ‘impact player’. The rule is new in the IPL but has already been used in the Australian Big Bash League (BBL).
The rule allows each franchise to bring an ‘impact player’ into the playing team, be it while bowling or batting.
While submitting the team sheets, the captains will be allowed to name four substitute players from which one can be called upon later.
The ‘Impact Player’ can do everything from the time he comes onto the pitch, be it batting, bowling or fielidng. But, the “Impact Player can only be an Indian player unless the franchise has fewer than four overseas players in the Playing XI.”
As per the BCCI, ” an overseas player who is part of 4 substitutes named in the team sheet can be used as an ‘Impact Player’. If a team introduces an overseas player as an Impact Player in a match, in no circumstance can a 5th overseas player take the field.”
It also has to be noted that the ‘Impact Player’ can be brought into the game before the start of the innings, or after an over is completed.
When it comes to the batting side, ‘Impact Player’ can be brought in at the fall of a wicket, or when a batter decides to retire at any time during the course of an over.
The ‘Impact Player’, however, cannot be used as the captain of the team.
“We heard about the Impact Player rule before the auction, so obviously we looked at it and thought how we can maximise it, the potential for an allrounder to play a big part,” Hesson said. “There was actually some strategy involved. It brought some intrigue. You could introduce the player at any time, whether a batsman is dismissed or not. So yeah I thought it was a nice development.
“I think it [naming the XI after the toss] has pretty much negated the Impact rule. It’s pretty much now a substitute rule. If you bat first, you swap out a batter and bring on an extra bowler [in the second innings] and vice versa. So after the toss, you just give your batting XI or bowling XI, so there’s no Impact rule, it’s pretty much a straight-up substitute.”
“It’s going to be 12 playing 12 because most teams will want their specialists to occupy their batting slots or their bowling slots,” Sanjay Bangar, the head coach at Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise.
There remains huge anticipation over the rule, with franchises still divising a strategy to use the option ‘tactically’ during the matches. The BCCI already experimented with the rule during the last Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and it will now be seen in the IPL.
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