CHENNAI: When the Impact Player rule was introduced ahead of the 2023 IPL season, among many, there were two key talking points. 1) On how the rule would affect the role of all-rounders and 2) the impact it might have on the way teams strategise and form their playing XIs. While the first issue is a long-term concern and might take time to see how it plays out in teams picking their squad at the auction, there seems to be a clear pattern emerging at this point.
After 26 matches (52 innings), most of the impact player replacements have been the case of a batter coming in for a bowler and vice versa. Very rarely has it been the case where all-rounders have been used as impact players; Venkatesh Iyer, Vijay Shankar, and Rishi Dhawan to name a few. All three of them are medium pacers, but Dhawan has been used only for his bowling while Iyer and Vijay for their batting.
Iyer, a regular part-timer option for Kolkata Knight Riders in the past, is yet to bowl this season. It sums up the impact of the new rules. "Honestly, with the coming of the Impact Player rule, the number of overs an all-rounder is bowling has dropped down drastically. Obviously, if a team has a specialist bowler as their sixth bowler and then they don't want to try their all-rounder. It has lessened the utility of all-rounders," Iyer said recently.
For all-rounders whose predominant skill is their bowling like Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Krunal Pandya, etc, not much has changed. It is those batters who bowl haven't been essentially used as they have been replaced by a front-line bowler. Only twice in the first 26 games, teams have replaced a batter with another batter, one of which was injury-forced with Gujarat Titans replacing Kane Williamson. And so far, only thrice teams have tried not to use the Impact Player rule, once each by the Titans, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
What kind of impact do the players who come in have had? Some, like Suyash Sharma, Amit Mishra, Iyer, and Dhruv Jurel have scored points with their performances. However, it is not the same across all teams. On average, batters who come in as impact players in the first 26 games have struck at 134.6 strike rate, averaging 28.77. Bowlers have operated at an average economy of 9.7 with a strike rate of 21.95. If one goes through the data, it seems like spinners have done better than pacers on average, especially while defending totals.
Similarly, different teams have gone about it in different ways. Chennai Super Kings, for example, have fixed Ambati Rayudu as their impact player with the bat and change the bowler depending on conditions. Sunrisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, have had their share of challenges in figuring out how to make the most of the rule. "It always seems to be a bit of a tricky one," said SRH skipper Aiden Markram on the eve of their clash against CSK in Chennai. "You are probably making a call based on conditions on the night. I've always liked consistency among selections. I think it gives players good clarity and good role definition, but the impact player can sometimes not allow for that continuity, but we try our best to make sure that at least everyone is clear in what their role is," he added.
If teams are still adapting to the new rule on the go, there is also a case to understand if there is any pressure on the batter or bowler who comes in for the second innings as an impact player to have a role in ensuring the result goes in favour of their respective side. In the first innings, it is often a regular XI whereas the player who comes in is looked at as someone who is there to make an impact. Does it add extra pressure on the player? CSK bowling consultant Eric Simons doesn't think so. "It's more about defining the roles wanted to level you down, to find roles of No. 1 to 12 and that's what it boils down to. His job would have been the same whether there was an XI or not when he was batting seven or eight, which is the real difference and whether you can float him around a bit. It doesn't make a difference in your thinking," he said on Thursday.
As if everything that has happened in the IPL, the impact player rule, too, is likely to evolve and be made better use of should it be persisted. For now, most teams are happy to keep it simple, replacing a top-order batter with a front-line bowler, and do what works for them.