‘I think it should be done away with’: Ajinkya Rahane joins calls to scrap IPL Impact Player rule

The debate over the Impact Player rule in the Indian Premier League continues to intensify, with former India cricketer Ajinkya Rahane becoming the latest to call for its removal. Rahane believes the rule has outlived its purpose and is hampering the development of all-rounders in Indian cricket.The former Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals captain told Cricbuzz that there is little benefit in continuing the rule that allows teams to rotate players during a match.

Rahane questions the relevance of the Impact Player rule

“I think it should be removed,” Rahane, who led Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals in the league, told Cricbuzz.“I remember last year, before the IPL captains’ meeting, most of the captains said they didn’t want the impact player rule. And I think they have the guidelines or the rules until 2027. So we don’t know if they’re going to take it this year or after this year (when) the big auction is coming up, they’re going to rule it out. But ideally, I feel like there’s no point in using the impact player.This rule also hampers the growth of all-rounders in Indian cricket as franchises tend to replace batsmen with bowlers and vice versa to get the best possible result with bat or ball.Hardik Pandya’s absence in the Indian team has often forced the Indian team to look for camouflage and despite the emergence of Shivam Dube and Nitish Reddy, they are still far from Hardik’s capabilities. Moreover, there don’t seem to be many all-rounders in development, especially fast bowling all-rounders, which are a rarity in Indian cricket now.

Rahane wants bowlers to get more opportunities

“All-rounders are going out of the game, especially in the IPL. And I strongly believe that you have to develop your all-rounders. From the Indian team’s point of view, all-rounders are really important. So the impact player rule should be done away with.”“You see why I think we should take it out is because last year I don’t want to name any teams, but a couple of teams were probably at 90/7, 100/7 and ended up getting 200 because of the one impact (rule), one more at-bat. So I feel (we should) give some advantage to the bowlers, and the all-rounders should be involved as well.