The Franchises have now started the preparation for IPL 2023. Teams have already announced their retained and released players list for the upcoming season. The mini auction for IPL 2023 has also been scheduled on 23rd December.
The Indian Premier League is set to introduce a big change for the upcoming 2023 season which is expected to get underway around April next year. BCCI is set to introduce a new rule that has been a regular practice in football, but never used in cricket before.
From the IPL 2023 season, A new concept is going to be introduced that will add a new dimension to the game ie. “Impact Player”.
This rule will enable the teams to substitute one of its regular players with an impact player. Before this there was a practice of “12th man” that can be used as a substitute any time by the fielding team. But the 12th man can only field. But the player is not allowed to bat or bowl.
However, as per the new rule in IPL 2023, the “impact player" will be able to do both. At the toss, each team must name four “impact players" in addition to the starting XI. One of those may be used during the game. Before the end of the 14th over of either innings, a player may come in for any starter and still bat and bowl. This new rule change is definitely going to play an important role in the match results and punters now have to take this into account during the IPL betting as well.
This rule can be considered as an extension of the Supersub system which was earlier introduced in ODIs in 2005-2006. In that case, the substitute’s role coincided mostly with that of the player he replaced. This was also tried in BBL in Australia as an X-Factor rule that allowed teams to substitute a member of their starting XI at the halfway point (ten-over mark in a full game) of the first innings, if the player replaced hadn’t already batted or bowled more than one over.
The Impact Player concept was first experimented in this year’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) and the BCCI was quite satisfied with the results. Hrithik Shokeen of Delhi became the first "Impact Player" in the history of Indian cricket this october. The off-spinner became a part of the game as Delhi was defending 167 against Manipur during the second innings. Shokeen, who came in for opener Hiten Dalal, ended with two for 13 in three overs while Delhi won by 71 runs.
In a recent three page note by BCCI on “Impact Player” rule unveils more on this. The note mentions “Impact Players can only be Indian players unless there are less than 4 overseas players in the Playing XI.”
“Only an overseas player who is part of 4 substitutes named in the team sheet can be used as an Impact Player. If a team introduces an overseas player as an Impact Player in a match, in no circumstance can a 5th overseas player take the field,” the note read.
How the Impact player can be used:
The Captain will nominate the Impact Player.
The Impact Player can be introduced (i) before the start of the innings; or (ii) after completion of an over; or (iii) in case of a batter, at the fall of the wicket, or the batter retiring at any time during the over (as provided in Clause 1.8 (iv) below).
A Player who is replaced by an Impact Player (“Replaced Player”) can no longer take part in the remainder of the match and is also not permitted to return as a substitute fielder.”
Each match allows for the use of one Impact Player for each team. However, it is not required. Teams can decide whether or not to use the Impact Player.
At the time of the toss, teams are required by the BCCI to declare their starting XI and four replacements. Only one of the four substitutes listed on the squad sheet can be utilized as an impact player.
The change however can only be made before the 14th over of the innings.
When the bowling team brings in their Impact Player, they will be allowed to bowl their full quota of four overs irrespective of the number of overs bowled by the player they are replacing. But if the bowling team brings in their Impact Player in the middle of an over, they will have to wait until the end of the over before they are allowed to bowl.
What will happen when a match has a delayed start?
BCCI said that there will be no change to the implementation of the Impact Player rule if "a delayed start reduces the total amount of overs available to both sides to less than 20 overs per innings prior to the commencement of the match … Impact Player can be utilized at any time during the match."
It will be interesting to see how the teams will be going to utilize the “Impact Player” in IPL 2023 and how much impact player in ipl will change the future of T20 cricket.
