Former Indian cricketer makes a huge statement on the impact player rule ahead of the Indian T20 League auction

Auction Room Indian T20 League (Source: Twitter)

The Indian T20 League has been a wonderful tournament which has helped youngsters get life-changing opportunities. The League has had the slogan “where talent meets opportunity”. The League has also been wanting to experiment and has now put in the impact player rule which has been taken from the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

According to the impact player rule, Teams can get a player as a substitute before 14 overs are finished in either innings of the game. The hot talking point has been whether the rule would have any impact on the prices of the overseas all-rounders. Former Indian Cricketer Aakash Chopra has now weighed in on this subject.

The all-rounders will rule the roost at the auction- Aakash Chopra

"I don't feel the 'Impact Player' rule will impact the players' pricing at the auction, especially all-rounders. Auction is all about supply and demand. When the supply is so less, naturally the demand will increase exponentially among a few teams. The overseas all-rounders will command a high price because they are fewer in number but the teams hunting for them are more so naturally, the prices will skyrocket.

"You can't substitute overseas players so you will want your all-rounders to occupy the prime positions in the XI straightaway." He also said that the impact player rule will make the life of the all-rounder difficult as teams might look to include two players with different skill sets to give more options to the side. It will add a new dimension to the game altogether. "This impact player rule actually reduces the fascination of having all-rounders in the team. Because instead of playing a player with two skills, you can play two players with their primary skills alone. This changes the dynamics of the game completely."

He said that all-rounders will be the attention seekers at the auction as they will still be the ones who will send the franchises into a tizzy which will trigger a bidding war from the franchises to have them on their side. He said that Ben Stokes, Sam Curran and Cameron Green will take centerstage and Curran will go for a high price in this auction.