IPL 2024: Impact Player rule under threat after Rohit Sharma's criticism? Arun Dhumal breaks silence

Indian Premier League chairman Arun Dhumal has claimed that the BCCI will be sitting along with all the officials to discuss the future of the Impact player rule in the richest cricket league. This comes after Indian captain Rohit Sharma criticized the Impact player rule for taking the essence of 11 vs 11 away from the game of cricket. Rohit had made these comments during his recent appearance in the Club Prairie Fire podcast with Adam Gilchrist and Michael Vaughan among others.

Rohit Sharma was asked to shed light on his thoughts about the Impact player rule. Therein, the 36-year-old claimed that he is not a very big fan of that rule, stating that it is genuinely threatening for the all-rounders and the impact of this rule has a negative effect against them. Batters and Bowlers have more or less benefited from this as teams have smartly found the right way to utilize the system. 

Rohit Sharma slams IPL rule-makers 

Rohit Sharma also had some harsh words for the IPL rule makers by claiming that just because they want to add an element of entertainment into the game, they have invented the Impact player sub. "I generally feel that it is going to hold back (all-rounders) because eventually cricket is played by 11 players, not 12 players. I'm not a big fan of Impact Player (rule). You are taking out so much from the game just to make it a little entertaining for the people." - Rohit said via Club Prairie Fire.

The former Mumbai Indians captain also mentioned a few players that facing the most negative impact from this. Rohit Sharma mentioned Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube are not getting the chance to bowl, which is not a good thing at all from a cricketing perspective.  

"But if you look (at) genuinely, just the cricketing aspect of it... I can give you so many examples — guys like Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube are not getting to bowl, which for us is not a good thing." 

Last season when it was introduced for the first time, the Impact player substitution was receiving a lot of backing and support as people had thought that it would add a new dimension into the game. However, by the second season of its implementation, the change is under the scrutiny of getting abolished. And fairly the role of all-rounders has become less important as teams have been substituting a batter with a bowler and vice versa. 

What did Arun Dhumal say after Rohit's backlash?

While speaking to the Telegraph recently, Arun Dhumal said that Rohit Sharma's observation will be taken into consideration and that a meeting will be called up on this subject after the conclusion of the ongoing season.