The impact player rule is making a lot of headlines in the entire cricket world. During IPL 2024, many senior players expressed their displeasure over this rule. Indian captain Rohit Sharma says that he is not a big fan of this rule and due to this the emergence of potential all-rounders in the country has been stopped. On the other hand, Virat Kohli believes that the rule introduced by IPL does not give the right balance to the game.

However, Ravichandran Ashwin has described the impact player rule as important for the team’s strategy. The veteran says that batsmen cannot change bowlers overnight and this makes the game fair.

Impact player rule is not that bad- Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin while speaking on K. Srikkanth’s YouTube show said,

Why I think the impact player rule is not so bad is because it is a bit necessary for strategy. The other side of that argument is that it does not encourage all-rounders. But nobody is stopping them. In this generation, they don’t do it (batsmen bowl or bowlers bat). It’s not that they are discouraged because of the impact player rule. Look at Venkatesh Iyer, he is currently doing brilliantly for Lancashire. So this rule makes the game more fair.

Citing the example of IPL 2024 Qualifier-2, Ashwin said, “Sunrisers Hyderabad brought Shahbaz Ahmed as an impact player. He proved to be a match winner by taking three wickets.” Ashwin emphasized that a rule like impact player gives another bowling option and balance to the game and at the same time the match becomes closer.

The veteran Indian spinner also believes that players like Shivam Gube, Shahbaz Ahmed and Dhruv Jurel have emerged because of the impact player rule. It is because of this rule that new players are getting opportunities.