IPL 2023: Zaheer Khan perfectly explains new 'Impact Player' rule with T Natarajan example

IPL 2023: Former Indian cricketer Zaheer Khan took to his official LinkedIn handle on Friday morning and explained the new ‘Impact Player’ rule, which is being introduced in the Indian Premier League, from the 2023 season onwards. While the IPL 2023 kicks off with the Gujarat Titans vs Chennai Super Kings clash, the tournament will see teams using the ‘Impact Player’ for the first time. Under the rule in IPL 2023, teams will be able to bring in a substitute into the playing XI, who can bat or bowl. 

Meanwhile, Zaheer mentioned in his LinkedIn post that he is “looking forward to the latest innovation in the league”. The pace legend predicted that the rule can be a defining factor for the tournament going forward. Khan went on to explain how the rule works while using an interesting analogy to explain it, which also involved star Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer T Natarajan. 

“I will explain with a simple scenario : Fazalhaq Farooqi is in great form, swinging the new ball and making early inroads in the opposition's top order. SRH decides to exhaust his quota upfront. They then replace Farooqi with the Impact Player - T Natarajan, who is a death-overs specialist and comes into bowl from the 14th over. Farooqi does not take any further part in the match. In this case, both Farooqi and Natarajan can potentially bowl four overs each, and SRH gets eight high-quality overs by specialists in two different phases of play,” an excerpt from Zaheer Khan’s post read.

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IPL 2023: What is the new ‘Impact Player’ rule? How will teams use the rule?

The teams have to list five substitutes at the time of naming the original playing XI at the toss. The teams will then be able to use any one of the five substitutes as their Impact Player. The player who gets replaced by the Impact Player will take no further part in the match, not even as a substitute fielder.

The captain can bring in the player before the start of the innings, at the end of an over and at a fall of a wicket, or when a batsman decides to retire. However, if the bowling side decides to bring in an Impact Player during an over, at the fall of a wicket, or if a batter retires, the player will be barred from bowling the remaining deliveries of that over. Only an Indian player will be allowed to come in as an Impact Player if the team has already included four overseas players in their playing XI.