‘It makes the game fairer’ – Ravichandran Ashwin backs Impact Player rule for ‘strategic’ importance

Ravichandran Ashwin (Photo Source: BCCI/IPL)

After backing the Impact Player rule as not the sole reason for the high scores in IPL 2024, India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has termed the rule as important for team strategies. While players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli urged for reconsideration of the rule, Ashwin is firm in his belief that the rule is here to stay. Previously, he had called for bowlers to start spending time with bats as the winds of change are inevitable.

India captain, Rohit had argued that he is ‘not a big fan’ of the rule, and the new addition curbs the emergence of potential all-rounders in the country. On the other hand, Kohli asserted that the rule brought in by IPL does not have a proper balance. Ashwin, however, feels that batters do not turn bowlers overnight and that makes the game fairer.

“Why I think the Impact Player rule is not so bad is because it gives a little more value for strategy. The other side of that argument is it doesn’t encourage allrounders. But no one is stopping them. In this generation, they don’t do it [batters bowling and vice-versa],” said Ashwin on Kris Srikkanth’s YouTube show.

“It’s not like they’re discouraged because of the Impact Player rule. Look at Venkatesh Iyer, he’s currently rocking for Lancashire. There’s an opportunity for innovation and it makes the game fairer,” he further added.

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For the unversed, the impact player allows a team to bring in an extra player at any point in the game. The move turns the total number of players count from 11 to 12. It has been witnessed that teams are leveraging more on the batting aspects to post humongous totals as bowlers struggle to grapple with never-ending batting line-ups.

Haven’t been a drastic change elsewhere: Ashwin

Furthermore, Ravichandran Ashwin countered the argument exemplifying the chasing team’s shortcomings when dew becomes a deciding factor. He also added that an extra batter will always keep the strategic aspects alive even when nature can play a part in the outcome of the game.

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“When dew has the potential to make games one-sided, teams bowling second get an extra option as a counter. If you’re batting second, you can tactically make a substitution by offloading the extra bowler for a batter,” he continued.

“Games are tighter, an extra player is getting to play. Barring Kolkata or Mumbai, where scores skyrocketed, they haven’t been a drastic change elsewhere. Like at Punjab Kings‘ home venue [Mullanpur], they were all 160-170 games,” Ashwin concluded.