Rohit Sharma does not believe that the introduction of ‘Impact Player’ in the Indian Premier League (IPL) will negate the role of all-rounders in the shorter format.
“I don’t know whether it will impact an all-rounder. An all-rounder will always be an all-rounder. No matter what stage of the game, he will give you the option of bowling him any time; making him bat any time. Yes, with the 12th player, you can fill that gap a little bit, having that balance of the fifth or sixth bowler or that extra batter. But you still want to put your best players in the park,” Rohit, the Mumbai Indians captain, said on Wednesday.
A few days ago, former Australia captain and Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting stated that the Impact Player rule in the IPL could well mean curtains for “bits and pieces all-rounders”.
However, Rohit does not believe so.
“There may be a slight difference to it but I don’t think it’s going to impact so much in terms of having an all-rounder in your team or not…” the India captain said. “As I said earlier, this is an interesting rule where you see how the other teams and the mindset of other teams and we will have an idea by the time we play our first game…”
Even Mumbai Indians head coach and former South Africa coach Mark Boucher agreed with Rohit. “The impact player is going to be quite interesting. As Rohit said, we will have to adapt to everything that happens. And we’ll be able to see how others are using it and hopefully, learn from the way they use it as well. You want to use the impact player, which is exactly the word, you want to have a player who comes in and makes a massive impact on the game. That’s the mindset that I have…”
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