The organizers of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have already geared up for the much anticipated IPL 2023 season of the championship. With a range of exclusive rules and regulations set to be announced, BCCI is already working on them to be stringent and beneficial for domestic players. In one of the most fascinating rules of IPL 2023, BCCI has allowed the concept of Impact Player to pitch in the gameplay for all the franchises. Impact Player will be able to replace a member of the Playing XI side of a franchise at any point of the game and perform all the actions including batting, bowling, and fielding.
The impact Player concept is being rolled out in IPL for the first time. In view of the controversial move, BCCI has announced some stringent regulations related to the Impact Player. BCCI has stated that the Impact Player in any franchise shall always be an Indian if the team has opted for the normally permitted four overseas players in the XI.
An Impact Player can be overseas only if the team has opted for fewer than four overseas players in the XI. This regulation will definitely benefit the domestic players who fail to get an opportunity. Also, the ones underperforming will be rested and the team balance and results can be highly prolific.
Here are the multiple rules announced by BCCI to bring in play an Impact Player for IPL 2023:
- The Captain shall be the only person to nominate an Impact Player.
2. An Impact Player can take the field in case of the following situations:
A. Before the start of the innings
B. At the end of an over
C. At the fall of the wicket
- A player of the first XI when replaced by an Impact Player cannot take his place back for the remainder of the game.
- Impact Player cannot act as a regular or stand-in captain.
- If an impact player is injured during the course of the match, another substitute can take his place but cannot ball or bat on his behalf.
- The captain needs to inform the replacement of Impact Player to the on-field umpires.
Broadly speaking, the franchise shall ascertain the Playing XI before the start of play and can nominate only 1 Impact Player.
It will be interesting to find out how the Impact Player concept works in the upcoming edition of IPL 2023.