The Indian Premier League (IPL) has come up with an innovation for the 2023 season. The BCCI have introduced a new Impact Player Rule, which means there will be 12 players playing for a team instead of 11. Every captain will be allowed to name four substitutes along with their starting eleven. He could replace an on-field athlete with one of those substitutes mid-game.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) became the first team to avail the benefit of the rule on Saturday (March 31), as they replaced Ambati Rayudu with Tushar Deshpande in the opening game of the tournament against Gujarat Titans (GT). Meanwhile, GT also bought in Sai Sudharsan to replace an injured Kane Williamson.
However, the rule comes with certain conditions, which are as follows:
1) An overseas player can only be brought on as a substitute if the teams don’t feature four foreigners in their playing 11.
Otherwise, the impact players can only be Indian.
2) An impact player can be introduced in the game before the start of the innings or after the completion of an over.
He also needs to be called before the 14th over in an inning.
3) The captain can send the impact player to bat at the fall of a wicket or if a batter retires.
Notably, BCCI implemented the rule in the 2022 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy before the IPL.
