Former India cricketer urges IPL governing council to remove ‘Impact Player’ rule from the tournament

Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer has urged the Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council to remove the ‘Impact Player‘ rule. The rule was introduced in the tournament during the 2023 season early this year. As per the rules, teams can replace one player from the playing XI and bring in another one out of the five nominees named in the team sheet. If the original playing XI has four overseas, they cannot replace a foreign player with an overseas player.

However, there is no cap on Indian players being replaced by a fellow Indian. The same rule has been followed in the Indian domestic tournaments such as the Tamil Nadu Premier League, Karnataka T20 tournament, and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy so far this year. Meanwhile, former India Test opening batter and Punjab Kings batting coach Wasim Jaffer feels the Impact Player rule is killing the impact of all-rounders.

“I think IPL needs to take away the impact player rule, as it’s not encouraging the all rounders to bowl much and lack of ARs and batters not bowling is a major area of concern for Indian cricket. Thoughts?,” Jaffer wrote on X.

Impact Rule might have a say in the IPL 2024 auction

Ahead of the 2023 player auction, the rule wasn’t introduced which is why teams were stumped in the early phase of the tournament. However, with the team now aware of the rule, they will select players keeping the same in mind.