Impact Player rule proves pre-IPL concerns true

It’s been 18 days and 24 matches since the Indian Premier League-16 commenced but the teams are yet to crack the Impact Player code which the BCCI introduced this season in a bid to “provide new dimension” to the tournament.

“I am still trying to wrap my head around it,” said Delhi pacer Anrich Nortje when asked what he made of the new rule.

Impact Player is neither novel nor revolutionary in its concept. The International Cricket Council had introduced the Super Sub rule in 2005 in an attempt to revitalise the ODIs which had become monotonous. The Big Bash League in Australia floated the X-Factor rule but was shelved soon after. While the fate of the Impact Rule remains to be seen, one wonders if there was any need to bring in the rule.

Firstly, there was no crying demand to spice things up because IPL was already exciting enough to watch. Secondly, it goes against one of the basic tenets of the game which, at any given point in time and in any format, pits 11 players against 11.

The Impact Player rule, however, pitches 12 versus 12 because unlike the Super Sub and X-Factor rules, here both the replaced player and his substitute can bat as well as bowl full quota of overs and the substitution can be made at any point of time during a match. With teams also having the option of changing the playing XI after the toss, they have the chance to field a bowling-heavy or batting-heavy 11 depending upon whether they get to bowl or bat first.

On Saturday, Prithvi Shaw was admonished by his Delhi Capitals’ skipper David Warner for refusing a second run during their chase against Royal Challengers Bangalore here. Under pressure, the visibly bulky opener ran for a tight single after pushing the ball to the right of mid-off. An acrobatic Anuj Rawat made a diving stop and rifled the ball at non-striker’s end to catch Shaw well short of the crease.

Shaw was Delhi’s Impact Player but he could make little difference to his side. He sat in the dug-out throughout the RCB innings and appeared stiff during his brief stint.

“The one thing with the Impact rule that I certainly don’t like is that it can’t just be batting hours only for certain batters,” said Capitals’ batting coach Shane Watson when asked about the utility (or the lack of it) of players like Shaw. “With this new rule how you can maintain someone’s energy to a point where when they go out in the first over, because they have been sitting on the sidelines, they are ready to actually move quickly. We all got to be better at it, and certainly tonight exposed that. If he (Prithvi) were out there running around, he would have been ready to take off and run that little bit faster. So I think that will be a learning that he takes out but also from a team perspective we certainly have to as well,” he explained.

The Impact Player so far has seen some hits and several misses as teams have tried to maximise the additional batter or bowler they have subbed, but the numbers do suggest that the role of all-rounders has greatly diminished. With teams opting for either a specialist batter or bowler as the Impact Player, only 14 times out of 46 innings (till the end of Sunday’s second match between Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans) all-rounders have been summoned as substitutes. On most of these 14 occasions, they have been required to perform only one set of their skills.

“Being an all-rounder, I’ve wanted to be in the game at every moment,” said Watson, making his aversion for Impact Rule clear. “If I was told I had to sit down and not field, I would be shattered. Because I feel I can’t have an input in the game, even if I was on the field.”

Quality all-rounders have always been in high demand in cricket across formats since the game was invented as they lend balance to a side. Now, Impact Player has managed to reduce their importance, proving pre-tournament concerns that the rule would take away the role of all-rounders.