Cricket experts and fans are in a split regarding 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 multiple fresh rules to enhance the quality of the tournament, a part of the cricket fraternity will love to hear from the officials about the Impact Player rule as well.
Should BCCI omit the rule from the league? Former BCCI president, legendary figure of Indian cricket, Sourav Ganguly, was asked to express his own views regarding this. Additionally, the former captain predicted the future of the Indian National Cricket Team as well.
Former Team India captain Sourav Ganguly expressed his own views on the Impact Player rule ahead of the IPL 2026 season
Ganguly said that he sees no sign of omitting the rule, despite opposing comments. Sourav stated that the rule was there even before his tenure as the BCCI president. So he believes that the Impact Player rule will be there in the future.
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“Impact player rule is here to stay, when I became the president of the BCCI, the Impact Player had already come in, so it was before that, so it is here to stay, someone will like it, someone will not, but still the better players will prevail,” Sourav Ganguly told the news agency PTI.
India’s dominance will continue: Sourav Ganguly
The former India skipper strongly felt that India’s dominance would continue in cricket as the nation is filled with an excessive amount of talent. In the future, the Men in Blue will make their moves stronger in the white-ball formats with fresh blood inside the team. And, the young boys will carry the team in the Test as well, gradually.
“India’s dominance will continue, the talent this country has, this is going to continue for years to come, in T20, white ball formats for sure, and I am sure these young boys will give as much value to Test cricket as it deserves, and become quality players in that format as well”, Sourav Ganguly added.
VIDEO | When asked about Impact Player rule of IPL, legendary former skipper of Indian cricket team Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) says, “Impact player rule is here to stay, when I became the president of the BCCI, the Impact Player had already come in, so it was before that, so it… pic.twitter.com/VUrnBpG8QH
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 24, 2026
Ravichandran Ashwin opined in support of the controversial rule
A couple of years ago, Ravichandran Ashwin, supporting the rule, said that Impact Player offered the team to perform more strategically. He dismissed the claims that because of this particular rule, the team would start to depend less on the all-rounders.
“Why I think the Impact Player rule is not so bad is because it gives a little more value for strategy. The other side of that argument is that it doesn’t encourage all-rounders. But no one is stopping them,” Ashwin said on Kris Srikkanth’s YouTube show in August 2024.
“When dew has the potential to make games one-sided, teams bowling second get an extra option as a counter. If you’re batting second, you can tactically make a substitution by offloading the extra bowler for a batter,” he continued.
