Legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar advocated for the repeal of the contentious “Impact player” rule and suggests a few adjustments to rebalance bat and ball in the Indian Premier League.
The Impact player rule, which was implemented in 2023, permits teams to replace any member of the starting eleven at any time during the game with one of the five specified replacements.
“I feel there are a few things which, on a personal note, I can say. I think the impact player needs to go away. I feel, when in a T20 format you just have to play 20 overs, and then you are adding one more batter to that line-up. Where bowlers are already being challenged, I find that imbalance,” Tendulkar said at the ESPNcricinfo awards.
Tendulkar feels the regulation has made an already unequal battle between bat and ball worse, as batting-friendly grounds have produced record scores in recent seasons.
A number of well-known athletes, including former captain Rohit Sharma and India captain Shubman Gill, have also criticized the rule, claiming that it devalues all-rounders and removes skill from the game.
Tendulkar proposed changing the powerplay format by adding a bowling powerplay in addition to the current batting one.
“(In) the powerplay of six overs with field restrictions, only two fielders are allowed outside the ring. Let the first four overs be batters’ powerplay with the same field restrictions.
“Post that, the remaining two powerplay overs should be determined by the fielding captain as and when he wants to take. Those two consecutive overs will also get one fielder extra outside the ring at any stage of the game. So you (the fielding side) are able to control the game better,” Tendulkar said.
In order to let teams to use their best bowler for a greater percentage of the innings, the batting great also suggested raising the bowling limit of one player per team from four overs to five.
“One bowler should be allowed to bowl five overs. Because, invariably, the best bowler of the side is going to bowl that fifth over. Wouldn’t you want to see that best bowler bowl more? The top batters are batting sometimes even 20 overs. Why shouldn’t the best bowler be bowling five overs?” he asked.
