While the cricketing world is keen to see the much-talked about Impact Player Rule in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League, Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has expressed his concern over the same.
The Impact Player Rule will allow the teams to change one of their players in the Playing XI in the middle of the game during the stipulated time frames. Thanks to the new rule, one substitute player can come in to bat and bowl. The rule is definitely going to help the teams in the absence of allrounders.
And while only time will tell how the new rule impacts the game, Ricky Ponting has his fair share of concerns regarding it. The legendary cricketer and one of the game’s most decorated captains has predicted that bits and pieces cricketers will cease to exist in day and age of ‘Impact Substitution’. The former Australia skipper has said that unless an allrounder is ‘absolutely world class’, the teams are unlikely to pick them in the playing eleven.
“Actually, it almost negates the role of allrounders in the game now as you don’t need to pick in allrounders, name a batting or bowling heavy team and just take one out and bring another one in.
“Unless they (allrounders) are absolutely world class and they could be picked as a batter or bowler not as a bits and pieces guy, I don’t think you will see many teams actually use the guy that bats at No. 7 and bowls an over or two, You don’t need those guys anymore,” Ricky Ponting told PTI.
He was further asked whether a veteran pacer like Ishant Sharma could be a good ‘Impact Player’ in case the team is bowling second. In reply, Ponting said:
“Potentially, yeah. What we will find through, each franchise, how they want to use him (Impact Player) and because of players, we only found out about Impact players post auction. Actually, we have to work with what we have got and if we had known before auction, we would have looked at it in a slightly different way.”
IPL 2023 is scheduled to begin on March 31 with a clash between reigning champions Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings.