With the season of IPL 2023 quickly approaching there is one rule that has got everybody talking including Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting.
The ‘impact player’ rule means that a batsman or bowler can be replaced in the middle of the game depending on the match situation.
A similar rule has been a thing in Australia in the Big Bash League where there was an “X-factor” player however this was often underutilised in the competition by many of the franchises.
With the ‘impact player’ not being the only piece of innovation in IPL 2023 this year, with the playing XI being announced after the toss.
This is made even more prevalent when the three highest paid players in this year’s IPL 2023 auction were all categorised as all-rounders.
As the Chennai Super Kings and captain MS Dhoni bought England test captain Ben Stokes who sold for INR 16.25 crore.
Australian Cameron Green joined the Mumbai Indians for INR 17.5 crore and the record-breaking auction of Sam Curran who joined the Punjab Kings for INR 18.50 crores.
With the new innovation looking to target making matches more exciting having the best batsman and bowlers on the field at one time.
What did Ponting say?
“Actually, it almost negates the role of all-rounders in the game now as you don't need to pick in all-rounders, name a batting or bowling heavy team and just take one out and bring another one in,”
“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.”
“Unless they (all-rounders) 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.”
Fitness of all-rounder Mitchell Marsh
Head coach Ponting will be keeping a close eye on Delhi Capitals all-rounder Mitchell Marsh who played as a specialist batsman in the 2-1 One Day International series win over India.
Marsh scored a 194 runs in the three matches against India with a highest score of 81 from just 65 deliveries.
“He's had three or four months off in Australia; he's recovered from an ankle surgery that he had, I think back in November,”
“He hasn't bowled in the games yet, but he's been bowling for the last five or six weeks. So, by the time he gets here with us, his role in our team will be to bowl some overs as well.
