Amid FIFA World Cup, BCCI introduces football-style new rule for IPL 2023

It is the football World Cup season now and the BCCI seems to have taken a cue from the tournament in Qatar and has announced a football-style new rule for IPL 2023.

On Friday (December 2), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said it is introducing a “new rule” for the “new season”.

Also read: IPL 2023 auction in Kochi: 991 players register; 277 overseas

According to the new rule, IPL 2023 will see the introduction of a substitute player in the 10-team tournament.

“From the TATA IPL 2023 season a tactical concept will be introduced to add a new dimension to the IPL, wherein one substitute player per team will be able to take a more active part in an IPL match,” the official Twitter handle of IPL tweeted.

“How big an “impact” will the substitute player have this edition of the #TATAIPL,” it asked.

Time for a New season 😃

Time for a New rule 😎

How big an “impact” will the substitute player have this edition of the #TATAIPL 🤔 pic.twitter.com/19mNntUcUW

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 2, 2022

Earlier, in September, the BCCI introduced a new rule ‘Impact Player’ for its Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) Twenty20 tournament.

Also read: IPL 2023: Full list of retained, released, traded players by all 10 teams; total purse remaining

The BCCI has followed Australia’s Big Bash League’s (BBL) ‘X-factor’ rule in adding this new substitution rule. This will “add a new tactical/strategic dimension to the game”, the BCCI had said.

What is ‘Impact Player’?

An ‘Impact Player’ is nothing but a substitute player. As per BCCI’s new rule, each playing team can have one Impact Player per match.

Before the toss, the teams, along with their Playing XIs, now, have to name four additional players to be picked as one Impact Player.

Also read: Explained: What is BCCI’s new ‘Impact Player’ rule for T20s, IPL?

“Teams need to identify playing XI and 4 substitutes at the time of the toss. Out of the 4 substitutes named in the team sheet, only one of the players can be used as an Impact player,” the BCCI said in its circular to state associations.

What is BBL’s ‘X-Factor’ rule?

In the BBL, a team can introduce X-Factor player at the end of 10 overs (halfway mark). Teams are allowed to nominate two players each before the match (12th and 13th players). However, he can replace a player who is yet to have batted or has bowled not more than one over.

ICC’s Supersub rule

Earlier, in 2005, the International Cricket Council (ICC) introduced the ‘Supersub’ (substitution) rule for ODIs where teams had to name their Supersubs before the toss. However, the rule was scrapped after nine months.

Concussion substitutes

In 2019, the ICC introduced ‘like for like’ concussion substitutes for all matches. “Teams will have the option of replacing a player who has sustained a head or neck injury during an international match and has subsequently been diagnosed with concussion or suspected concussion,” ICC had said.