Team selection in sport is often a balancing act between flair and solidity, individual brilliance and collective effort, and the entire focus is on forging a unit that will triumph. In cricket, with its essential skeleton resting on the twin arms of batting and bowling, the whole exercise of picking a playing eleven is to get the right juxtaposition of these two elements.

The dream is to have enough batting depth, adequate bowling options and also hope that these players will field well. Often, it is fire and ice, salt and pepper, glorious sunshine and sweaters to shield from the cold, rugged beards and clean jawlines, as cricketing outfits are a diverse blend. Maybe these days you can throw in some tattoos as well.

Heady mix

Even the West Indies of the 1980s had this sense of equity. If the battering rams were Gordon Greenidge, Vivian Richards and Clive Lloyd, solidity was lent by Desmond Haynes and Larry Gomes, and the bowling was made in heaven: Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall.

Interestingly, within these well-demarcated zones of batters and bowlers, there was a demand for this adhesive called all-rounders, so vital in cricket. In Jeff Dujon, the Caribbean men had a brilliant wicketkeeper, who could bat too, and in Gus Logie, they had an outstanding fielder and also a batter.

If they still needed spin, there was always Richards, chewing gum, with efficient off-spin emanating from his right hand. On some days, Roger Harper was picked; he would bowl spin and field well. In cricketing history, most teams that prospered, besides having fine batters and bowlers, always had these dual-skilled all-rounders.

When India won the 1983 World Cup, it was a side that was high on all-rounders starting with the mercurial skipper, Kapil Dev. Mohinder Amarnath could bat and bowl, Roger Binny could bowl and bat, and there were many others on this list. Even wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani had batting credentials.

At times, this yearning for an all-rounder also causes a needless twist, and forces a compromise. When India toured South Africa for the 2003 World Cup, Dinesh Mongia, batter and part-time spinner, was preferred over V.V.S. Laxman. Even if Sourav Ganguly’s men made the final before succumbing to Australia, in retrospect Mongia’s selection was a flawed move.

But this quest for an ideal playing composition continues with success, and the odd flop. It is in this backdrop that the Indian Premier League (IPL) has proved to be a disruptor, with its Impact Player rule that allows teams to make a substitution during natural breaks in an innings.

Often an extra batter, after he has wielded the willow, is replaced by a bowler, the reverse also happens, all this in a bid to keep the team’s balance intact. This is almost like those basement bargain sales, buy jeans and get an extra pair free. It is also a ruse to get more star-value infused into a league that offers an annual summer high equally to fans and marketing executives busy hyping multiple brands.

Introduced in 2023, the Impact Player rule came under scrutiny during a recent captains’ meeting ahead of the latest IPL edition. Reportedly, most leaders were not in favour of this ‘sporting’ legislation. Even if some of the latest games witnessed the Impact Player walking in, ranging from Suryakumar Yadav to Sarfaraz Khan, in the long term it subtly alters the narrative towards favouring specialists in either batting or bowling.

Convenient switch

A unit that feels that it is one batter or bowler short would always employ this switch. And it would mean that the much coveted all-rounder stands diminished. At times, a team that is going through the batting horrors would rather press an extra batter in, as it happened when Chennai Super Kings (CSK) used Sarfaraz against Rajasthan Royals at Guwahati.

One aspect of having an Impact Player is perhaps to stretch the games into last-over humdingers, but there is no guarantee that this will happen. It also helps a franchise to use a legend in his twilight to still turn up for a few overs. This may happen with M.S. Dhoni and CSK, as and when he recovers from his calf-strain.

The beauty of sport is its unpredictability. Captains, coaches and selectors often take a punt, factoring in the opposition, the ground conditions and the weather patterns. Putting out a playing eleven after weighing various options is an exercise largely vested in hope and mildly smudged with the fear, ‘what if things go wrong?’.

But having an Impact Player substitution becomes an insurance policy that could hinder regular players from improving their weaker skill. For instance, seamer Arshdeep Singh should feel the urge to improve as a batter and post handy lower-order runs. A top-order batter equally has to be invested in turning his arm over. But these motivations, both from the individual and team, will shrink once the Impact Player is set in stone.

In these frenzied times of Twenty20s, when a batter can shuffle across and scoop one over fine-leg or reverse-hit past third-man, no captain has the luxury of hiding inept fielders in these positions. Having an Impact Player option would mean a poor fielder can be substituted once his batting stint is over.

Playing the nationalism card that the Impact Player ‘has to be an Indian’ — unless the team starts with fewer than the maximum allowed quota of four foreigners — does widen the bouquet of opportunities for local players.

Yet, it undermines the highs and lows of sport. A captain getting his unit wrong, or a star player suddenly losing form are inexplicable quirks. A Roberto Baggio can miss a penalty in sport — it happened in the 1994 football World Cup final that swung Brazil’s way while the Italian great wilted in despair.

Age of multi-tasking

Even though the Impact Player rule will be assessed again in 2027, a rollback would mean that think-tanks would focus on nurturing all-rounders. Wriddhiman Saha, one of India’s finest wicketkeepers, lost his Test spot to Rishabh Pant, thanks to the latter’s additional skill as a maverick batter.

Surely, it is not a fair world but in this age of multi-tasking, the conveyor belt of all-rounders cannot be left emasculated. Especially from India where once Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh doubled up as effective part-time bowlers, be it as spinners or dibbly-dobblers, and Rahul Dravid kept wickets in ODIs.

Cameos in films may work like Suriya’s Rolex in the Kamal Haasan starrer Vikram, but its equivalent in sport, the Impact Player, seems a greedy thought to infuse more players into cricket’s shortest format. A concussion substitute is essential and has a medical basis, but an Impact Player in the IPL seems like a needless band-aid.

India skipper Rohit Sharma is “not a big fan” of the IPL’s ‘Impact Player’ rule as he feels it is hurting the country’s all-rounders by not allowing cricketers like Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube to showcase their bowling prowess.

The ‘Impact Player’ Rule, introduced in the 2023 season, allows all IPL teams to substitute a player — batter or bowler — during their respective innings as per the demands of the match.

But it has raised eyebrows given that someone like Dube has only been used as a power-hitter by his franchise Chennai Super Kings. He hasn’t bowled his medium pacers despite being in contention for the seam bowling all-rounder’s place in the India set-up along with Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya.

“I genuinely feel that it is going to hold back (development of India all-rounders),” Rohit didn’t mince words while speaking to Michael Vaughan and Adam Gilchrist’s YouTube show ‘Club Prairie Fire’.

Rohit explained at length why, for the sake of entertainment, development of players shouldn’t be forgotten.

India, save Pandya, doesn’t have a genuine seam bowling all-rounder in contention for the T20 World Cup, although Dube’s name is being discussed for the finisher’s role.

“Eventually, cricket is played by 11 players not 12 players. I am not a big fan of ‘Impact Player’, you are taking out so much from the game just because of little bit of entertainment, for people around,” he pointed out.

“…I can give you so many examples, guys like Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube are not getting to bowl. For us (Indian team), it is not a good thing you know. I don’t know what you can do about it but I am not a fan of it, frankly speaking,” he said.

“It is entertaining because there are 12 players, whoever the impact player is, you can change a player later seeing how the game goes, depending on how the pitch is behaving.” “If you bat well, don’t lose wickets, you can add another bowler, you have 6-7 bowlers and you don’t need an extra batter if teams are batting well upfront. You hardly see a no.7 or 8 coming in to bat,” he said.

During the conversation, Gilchrist pointed out that before the 2023 season, if a team batting first had a century-maker, they won the match 75 per cent of times, but with ‘Impact Sub’, that percentage has come down to 50.

The former MI skipper was ready with a stat of his own to drive home his point.

“They showed a stat that from 2008 to 2023, there were only two 250 plus scores and this year, there are four 250 plus scores already, so you can imagine,” he stated.

“There are 7-8 batters (due to Impact Sub) and you realise that your No.6 or 7 bats only 7-8 balls,” he added.

Haven’t met Rahul Dravid or Ajit Agarkar

With speculation spiralling on the composition of the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup in June, reports emerged that Rohit met head coach Rahul Dravid and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarakar to thrash out possible names but Rohit termed it as “fake news”.

“I haven’t met anyone. Ajit is somewhere in Dubai playing golf. Rahul bhai was in Mumbai to watch his kid play. He got him to play on a red soil wicket at CCI (Brabourne Stadium). We haven’t met,” he clarified.

“In this day and age, unless me, Rahul or Ajit or someone from BCCI is talking in front of the camera, everything is fake.”

Dhoni will be in U.S. but to play “golf”

When Gilchrist asked about “two” budding keeper-batters named “Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik”, who are showing “potential” in the IPL, the skipper also came up with a cheeky reply.

“Quite impressed, watching DK bat a couple of nights back, and Dhoni as well, came to play four balls, made a huge impact, that was the difference. It will be hard to convince MS although he is coming to the U.S., to do something else. He is into golf now. DK will be easier to convince I guess,” he laughed when asked whether they are being pursued for World Cup selection.

Pant is the player who can make me laugh

When Vaughan asked, who is the one guy he would pick purely because he can make him laugh, Rohit said Rishabh Pant would be his first choice.

“He is a crazy guy you know, watched him since he was a kid and was quite disappointed since he missed a year and half. I am glad that he is back. He is quite witty, kind of stuff he does makes you laugh.

“He has his own way of doing it. Even when not playing, he was still at his best. If I have to laugh, I call him,” Rohit said.

When MI plays in Mumbai, I stay at home

Having led MI to five trophies in a 10-year stint, Rohit had to make way for Hardik Pandya as captain. He said the change has allowed him more quality time with his young family.

“Spending a lot of time with my family. Staying at home actually. Last four games that we played in Mumbai, I was at home. Just going an hour before the match for a little team meeting. It’s been a little different but its been good,” he said.