Cricket experts and fans are divided over the impact player rule in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Ahead of another season of the league, when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has issued several new rules to enhance the quality of the tournament, a section of the cricket fraternity would like to hear from the officials about the Impact Player rule.
Should BCCI remove the rules from the league? Former BCCI President and Indian cricket legend Sourav Ganguly was asked to express his views in this regard. Apart from this, the former captain also predicted the future of the Indian national cricket team.
Former Team India captain Sourav Ganguly expressed his views on the Impact Player rule ahead of the IPL 2026 season.
Ganguly said he sees no sign of the rule being lifted despite the opposing comments. Sourav said that this rule was there even before he was the BCCI President. Therefore he believes that the impact player rule will remain in the future also.
“The impact player rule is here to stay, when I became BCCI president, the impact player had already come, so it was before that, so it will be here, some will like it, some won’t, but still the better players will win,” Sourav Ganguly told news agency PTI.
India’s dominance will continue: Sourav Ganguly
The former India captain strongly feels that India’s dominance in cricket will continue as the country is loaded with immense amount of talent. In the future, the Men in Blue will strengthen their moves in the white-ball format with fresh blood inside the team. And, the young boys will gradually lead the team in Tests as well.
Sourav Ganguly said, “India’s dominance will continue, the talent that we have in this country will continue for years to come, across T20, white-ball formats, and I’m sure these young boys will give Test cricket the importance it deserves, and become quality players in that format as well.”
Video | When Indian cricket team’s legendary former captain Sourav Ganguly was asked about the Impact Player rule of IPL (@SGanguly99) says, “The impact player rule is here to stay, when I became the BCCI president, the impact player was already there, so it was before that, so it… pic.twitter.com/VUrnBpG8QH
– Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) 24 March 2026
Ravichandran Ashwin expressed his opinion in support of the controversial rule.
A few years ago, Ravichandran Ashwin supported this rule, saying that the impact player offered the team a more strategic performance. He rejected claims that because of this special rule the team will become less dependent on all-rounders.
“Why I think the impact player rule is not so bad is because it gives a little more value to the strategy. The other side of that argument is that it doesn’t encourage all-rounders. But nobody is stopping them,” Ashwin said on Kris Srikkanth’s YouTube show in August 2024.
He further added, “When dew has the potential to make the game one-sided, teams bowling second get an extra option in the form of a counter. If you are batting second, you can make strategic substitutions by fielding an extra bowler for a batsman.”
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