Will it have an impact?

BCCI announced the introduction of an ‘impact player’ from the next edition of IPL. An experiment which was in the pipeline for quite a few years will finally see the light of day in IPL 2023 after it was successfully implemented in the recently-concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy. The BCCI said the rule, which will allow each team to introduce a substitute player in the middle of a match, will add ‘a new dimension’ to the popular tournament. From IPL 2023 season, a tactical concept will be introduced to add a new dimension to the IPL, wherein one substitute player per team will be able to take a more active role in an IPL match, BCCI said on Friday.The rule was first tried out successfully in the domestic T20 tournament with teams gaining tactical benefits from it. In this case, teams, apart from naming the playing XI, will also name four substitutes before the first ball is bowled. Among those, one cricketer can be brought in as a substitute before the end of the 14th over. He will be able to bat and bowl his full quota like any other cricketer.The impact player’s role will have nothing to do with the player he is replacing. In other words, unlike concussion substitutes or Supersub concepts used in ODIs between 2005 and 2006, an impact player won’t have to be an ideantical or like-for-like replacement for the player he is replacing. For example – a bowler can be replaced by a batter or vice-versa.