With teams being more proficient in IPL 2024 with the use of the impact sub, a concept they struggled a bit with last season, the tournament has effectively become a 12-a-side tournament?
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Jos Buttler was the latest Impact Player to make a match-winning contribution as Rajasthan Royals set about hunting down Kolkata Knight Riders' sizeable 223/6 on Tuesday.
Effectively a batter, a foreign player, and a white-ball great, had replaced a bowler, who had no role to play as a batter in the game. Both of Buttler's hundreds have come as an impact sub. His 100 not out against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Jaipur came when he came in for Yuzvendra Chahal.
While the extra batting option has resulted in bigger scores, one needs to ask the question whether it is serving Indian cricket any good?
While India have forever struggled to develop and breed allrounders post the 2011 World Cup, the IPL was looked at as a platform to nurse allrounders or help players develop an added string to their bow, the Impact Player rule doesn't need teams to go down that route.
In Gujarat Titans, we have someone like a Rahul Tewatia, who is a decent leg-spinner, but his role has been restricted to being a 15-ball batter and his leg-spin has not been called upon. Shivam Dube of CSK is another guy who can bowl an over or two of seam, but he too has played only as a top-order batter and a murderer of spin bowling and his bowling has gone into cold storage.
As of now, the only allrounder we can see in Indian cricket, who is being used both as a batter and bowler in the IPL, is Ravindra Jadeja. Hardik Pandya has been reluctant to bowl and when he has, has gone for plenty. Krunal Pandya's batting skills have not really been called for. Axar Patel, another potential option has not been hot as a batter in this IPL as he has batted at No.7 or lower.
Gone are the days when we saw Rohit Sharma bag a hat-trick or Yuvraj Singh bag two hat-tricks as captains needed an extra bowling option from someone in the top six.
How one wishes we could see a Darshan Nalkande deliver with both bat and ball or a Shahrukh Khan bowl two overs for 15 and then tonk 30 off 15 balls for Gujarat Titans.
How Ajit Agarkar and company would love a few names as options for the allrounder's role as they go about picking the team for the T20 World Cup.
1/9:Jos Buttler pips Sunil Narine in RR's record chase vs KKR
<p>Jos Buttler pips Sunil Narine in RR's record chase vs KKR</p>AFP
2/9:Buttler's Mastery
<p>Jos Buttler scored an unbeaten 107, leading Rajasthan Royals to a record IPL chase against Kolkata Knight Riders.</p>AFP
3/9:Rajasthan's Historic Chase
<p>Chasing 224, Rajasthan Royals achieved the target on the final ball, equaling their 2020 record chase against the Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in Sharjah.</p>AFP
4/9:Buttler's Impact
<p>Entering as an impact substitute, Buttler reached his ton in 55 balls, setting up a thrilling finish to a fiesty encounter.</p>AFP
5/9:Surpassing Chris Gayle
<p>With his performance, Buttler surpassed Chris Gayle, securing seven IPL centuries, just behind Virat Kohli.</p>AFP
6/9:Pivotal partnerships
<p>Buttler's partnerships with Riyan Parag and Rovman Powell were crucial in Rajasthan's chase.</p>AFP
7/9:The Narine Show
<p>Despite the loss, Sunil Narine's 109 off 56 balls was a highlight, marking his first T20 century.</p>AFP
8/9:Century Celebration
<p>Sunil Narine scored his first T20 century on Tuesday. Amassing his century with a plethora of 4s and 6s, Narine's celebration was a memorable moment of the match.</p>AFP
