In a major update in the cricket world, the BCCI has decided to scrap the contentious Impact Player rule for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy (SMAT). “Kindly note that the BCCI has decided to do away with the provision of the ‘Impact Player' for the ongoing season,” the BCCI informed the state associations on Monday.
This concept was introduced in SMAT a couple of years ago. It was later extended to the Indian Premier League (IPL). The BCCI's decision to do away with the Impact Player comes shortly after it decided to retain the rule in the IPL till 2027. With a record 250 plus total seen in the IPL this year, the Impact Player experiment was questioned by many including India skipper Rohit Sharma. However most of the IPL franchises were in favour of the rule.
The impact player rule permits teams to introduce a 12th player at any point during a match, allowing them to replace a player from the original XI announced at the toss. Rohit had felt that it was holding back the development of all-rounders. "I generally feel that it is going to hold back (development of allrounders) because eventually cricket is played by 11 players, not 12 players. I'm not a big fan of impact player. You are taking out so much from the game just to make it little entertainment for the people around," Rohit said on the Club Prairie Podcast.
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Saurashtra head coach Niraj Odedra welcomed the BCCI's decision. "It is nice change. Also the ICC doesn't have this rule in major tournaments So it would be good for cricketers who want to play for India as they graduate from domestic season," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
