Despite calls to review the Impact Player rule and revert to traditional 11-a-side contests, Indian Premier League (IPL) officials have indicated that any reassessment will take place only after the 2027 edition.
At the customary pre-season captains’ meeting held at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters here on Wednesday (March 25, 2026) evening, a majority of the 10 franchise captains expressed reservations about continuing with the rule.
It is understood that once one of the senior-most skippers raised concerns, he received vocal backing from several others during the first all-Indian captains’ gathering ahead of an IPL season.
While IPL and BCCI officials listened to the apprehensions — ranging from creating an uneven playing field to potentially hampering the development of Indian all-rounders — they clarified that the rule would remain in place until at least after IPL 2027.
Introduced in 2023, the Impact Player rule allows teams to make a substitution at any stage during the match. In practice, this has led to teams replacing an additional batter with a specialist bowler or vice versa, effectively altering team balance and reducing the importance of all-rounders.
Meanwhile, a captain also raised the possibility of extending the option of a ball change midway through the second innings to counter heavy dew. However, Javagal Srinath and Nitin Menon — head of the IPL’s match referees’ and umpires’ panels, respectively — declined the suggestion, explaining that the existing ball-change provision was already designed to address dew in the latter stages of a match.
Published – March 26, 2026 02:07 am IST
