“It’s a terrible rule.” – Jacques Kallis
Telford Vice / Cape Town
THE impact player rule jolting the IPL could be implemented in next year’s SA20. Cricbuzz understands the measure will be on the agenda when the South African tournament’s administrators gather to plan the 2025 edition.
That meeting will be held after the ICC releases their updated playing conditions, which are usually published on October 1. If the rule is approved, the SA20 will be ripe for the kind of revolution being seen in the IPL.
Should such a change seem unlikely, consider that the SA20 discussed introducing the rule last year. It was decided not to follow the IPL’s example partly because the SA20 player auction had happened by then and the franchises had not been able to shape their squads with impact players in mind. Concerns over the adverse consequences for allrounders, who are earning fewer opportunities because of the rule, and player development also helped make up minds. Those opposed, whose ranks include several prominent players, will hope that thinking prevails.
Among them is Jacques Kallis, who told Cricbuzz: “It’s a terrible rule. You’re negating the allrounder, and I don’t think that’s good for cricket. Especially for India, who are trying to grow their allrounders. As an allrounder, I don’t want to see that. You want them to play a major role.
“Also, there’s a very small chance of being bowled out because you’re basically playing with eight batters. That makes a big difference, and that’s why the scores have gone crazy. Yes, the batters have taken the game to the next level, but I definitely don’t agree that there should be an impact player.”
Kallis did see an upside to the rule for players who couldn’t quite crack the XI: “If your team is doing well your side doesn’t change much. Then guys sit on the sidelines and do nothing. So they could get gametime as impact players. That’s probably the only bonus, but it’s still not good for the game.”
Happily for Kallis and those who concur, he is on good terms with SA20 commissioner Graeme Smith — who has not responded to enquiries about the possibility of impact players being green lit for next year’s tournament. “I have had a chat with Graeme about this, and from what I understand they’re not going to do it,” Kallis said.
But the ongoing rule-fuelled explosion of runs in India, and the fact that all six of the SA20 franchises are IPL-owned, could prompt a rethink in South Africa when the bigwigs meet.
The tournament already has a semblance of a substitution system in place, with captains nominating at the toss which two of the 13 players’ names on their team sheets will sit out. In the IPL, five replacements are designated before the match — one of whom can be deployed during any natural break at any stage of the game.
The benefit of the SA20’s current approach is limited to allowing teams to finalise their XIs after analysing the actual conditions, not estimating what they might be based on experience. The benefits of the impact player rule for IPL teams, particularly in batting terms, seem unlimited.
Measured until after Tuesday’s game between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals, the 1,014th played in all IPLs, 11 of the tournament’s all-time top 20 highest totals have been seen this year along with 10 of the 20 biggest match aggregates and four of the highest 20 successful run chases. Teams have been bowled out for fewer than 100 in 40 IPL innings, but only once this year.
The record of a dozen centuries for a single edition of the IPL — five more than in 2016 and 2022, which are second on the list — was set last year, the first time impact players were deployed. Suryakumar Yadav’s undefeated 102 off 51 balls for Mumbai Indians against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede on Monday was already the 12th ton this year, and that with 19 games left in the competition at that stage.
Five of last year’s hundreds were scored by players who were then subbed out of the line-up, all of them in the top four. That has been true once this year, when Travis Head opened and made 102 off 41 for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy on April 15. It happened the other way around a day later at Eden Gardens, where Sanju Samson chose to field first and Jos Buttler scored 107 not out off 60 against Kolkata Knight Riders after being parachuted into Rajasthan Royals’ opening partnership.
Sai Sudharsan was the highest impact runscorer after 56 games, making 325 runs — including both of his half-centuries and all five of his top scores — at a strike rate of 129.48 in eight innings as a substitute. He made 33, 31 and 35 in his other innings, but at a higher strike rate of 139.44.
The best impact strike rate after 56 games, among players who had scored at least 50 runs, belonged to Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Mahipal Lomror — 238.10. Overall, batters who were subbed out had a strike rate of 162.12. Those who came into the XI scored at 143.67.
Arshdeep Singh was the most successful impact bowler with 13 wickets and Mustafizur Rahman’s economy rate of 6.38 was the best among those who had sent down five or more overs. Subbed out bowlers have taken 70 wickets, and their economy rate was 9.85. Those coming in have claimed 36 wickets and conceded 11.13 runs an over.
But it’s batting where this buck stops, or has refused to stop. The real effect of the rule is that it has removed from the non-impact batters’ minds much of the fear of getting out. They no longer need to curb their enthusiasm. Whoever the impact player is and however many runs they might make matters less than the invigorating fact of their presence. That gives their teammates licence to lash out more lustily than ever. Hence we’ve seen exponentially more IPL centuries than ever in 2023 and 2024.
We saw four centuries in the SA20 this year — up by one from the inaugural edition — and 454 sixes; 77 more than in 2023. On Thursday the tournament reported a 21% increase in global broadcaster viewership and 75-million digital views. That’s a fraction of the interest in the IPL, which garnered 111-million streaming viewers for this year’s opening match alone.
But the SA20 is far from broken. So why try to fix it with an impact player rule. Besides, South Africa’s outfields are significantly bigger than India’s, and the pitches not as flat. That an IPL record low of two centuries were scored when the tournament was played in South Africa in 2009 — four fewer than in 2008 — seems instructive.
That, of course, was long before impact players. The toothpaste is out of the tube. Good luck getting it back inside.
Cricbuzz
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