While allrounders ate into a bigger chunk at the Indian Premier League (IPL) Player Auction, the auction dynamics were slightly altered due to the introduction of the Impact Player was evident during the auction process on Friday.
Starting with IPL 2023 - as chairman Arun Dhumal described “innovation being the backbone of IPL” - the tournament will see each team being allowed to use an Impact Player for all the games. The substitute player, primarily an Indian except when a team fields less than four foreigners, can be introduced at any point during a game.
“It allows us to look at specialists. Instead of looking at an allrounder, we can now look at replacing a bowler with a batter. That gives us a little bit of flexibility in picking specialists for each spot,” said Brian Lara, the Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach.
Harry Brook benefitted as a result with Sunrisers going for the England batter to the hilt. He wasn’t the only one. Veteran batter Manish Pandey (Rs. 2.7 crore, Delhi Capitals) has been signed primarily with an eye on resurrecting the innings as an Impact Player in case of a collapse.
Some of the franchises have also bought domestic cricketers at base price with an eye on the Impact Player regulations. For instance, Royal Challengers Bangalore added Himanshu Sharma for the finisher’s role, if required.
The Impact Player experiment was tried out in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. While the domestic T20 championship required the substitution to be made before the end of the 14th over, the IPL will allow the introduction of the Impact Player at any point during a game.
“It is similar to the super-sub we had (in ODIs). It isn’t a replica,” said Pragyan Ojha, the former India spinner who is now a member of the IPL governing council.
“It’s a good thing. I believe sport has to evolve. It creates excitement. A lot of thought has been put into the rule to ensure it adds a lot of value.”
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