IPL’s ‘impact player’ rule is under fire after India captain Rohit Sharma said it was impeding the growth of domestic all-rounders. Now, former Mumbai wicketkeeper Sulakshan Kulkarni, who was the head coach of Tamil Nadu last season, has called for the scrapping of the rule from the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy tournament for the same reason.
“I was asked for a few suggestions to improve domestic cricket by the BCCI and I’ve recommended that the ‘impact-player’ rule should be scrapped from the Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy from next season,” Kulkarni said. “If this rule isn’t in place in international cricket, which means that it won’t be there in the T20 World Cup, why is it being used in the IPL?”
Explaining why he doesn’t approve of the rule, which allows for a player to be substituted by a 12th player - a bowler or a batter - at any stage of the match according to the situation, Kulkarni said: “It’s a rule which will ensure that we won’t develop all-rounders in domestic cricket. Look at Shivam Dube. He bowled a fair bit in the Ranji Trophy this season (12 wickets for Mumbai in 5 matches @ 12.08), but has not bowled a single ball in the IPL. If he doesn’t bowl, how does he make a case to be picked for Team India in the T20 World Cup as an all-rounder? “Even the likes of Venkatesh Iyer and Riyan Parag are not getting to bowl. The only Indian all-rounder who is bowling in the IPL is Hardik Pandya, and he is in poor form.”
Kulkarni pointed out that the plethora of 200-plus scores in this IPL is directly due to this innovative rule, introduced by the BCCI last season.
