Klaasen slams IPL impact player rule: ‘No place in international cricket’

South African batting star Heinrich Klaasen hopes the impact player rule used in the Indian Premier League never makes its way into international cricket, saying it negates the need for “smart batting”.

The impact player rule, which was introduced in the IPL last year and again featured this season, allows one substitute player per team to play an active part in matches with bat or ball.

After a match starts, the captain can nominate any one of five previously named substitutes to replace one of the active players in the starting XI during any of the natural breaks of the match – such as end of an over, or fall of a wicket.

‘Frees up batting side too much’

“The impact sub rule (in the IPL) allows batters to play with much more freedom and the execution is at a different level on pitches that are good,” Klaasen tells SportsBoom.com.

“In the IPL, you are measured by the number of sixes you hit and your strike-rate, that’s your bread-and-butter and no-one worries about your average.

“But I hope the impact sub does not come into international cricket. It frees up the batting side too much and you can have a batter at number nine with it, so there’s no need for anyone to hang around.”

Klaasen, of the biggest hitters in the game and a key member of the Proteas team at the T20 World Cup in USA and Caribbean, continued: “It takes away the creativity of batting, it takes away smart batting.

“Like when Jos Buttler scored a superb century off 60 balls for Rajasthan Royals against Kolkata Knight Riders to chase down 224, having scored just 25 off his first 18 deliveries. The impact sub will take away that sort of brilliance to sum up conditions and hang around a bit, against just bombing the ball over small boundaries.

“It will allow teams to not play the situation so well. We also don’t get a lot of difficult pitches in the IPL, which is why the way teams go extremely hard in the powerplay is the big trend, and then the middle-order adjusts depending on whether you’re in trouble or flying.”

Proteas at World Cup

The Proteas won their first match of the World Cup in New York on Monday, against Sri Lanka in a low-scoring affair and in conditions very different to what was seen in India at the IPL recently.

“We’ve got off to a very good start which means we can relax a bit and just keep building on that confidence. We need to focus on what we do best and keep that intensity,” said Klaasen, who scored 19 not out off 22 balls to steer his team to a target of just 78.

“But the Netherlands (who the Proteas face next, on Saturday) have beaten us twice and Bangladesh can beat any team on their day, so we need to play the big moments well in those games.”