CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress / ITDC News Bhopal: Mitchell Starc doesn’t expect the upcoming T20 World Cup in West Indies-USA to be anywhere close to the high-scoring tournament that the ongoing Indian Premier League season is turning out to be. With nearly two-thirds of IPL 2024 completed, high scores have been the trend with the 200-run mark no longer a safe metric for teams batting first. The 250-run mark that was only breached once prior to this season has been taken down multiple times with Sunrisers Hyderabad daring to even get close to the unprecedented 300-run mark. Starc, however, feels that the ICC showpiece event will have a better balance between bat and ball, and he had an explanation for this.
“There’s no Impact Player rule (in international cricket), so whether that affects the scores is yet to be seen,” said Starc. “I think it probably will. People talk about the balance of the team when you can’t just bring someone in. Your all-rounders come back into play. Captains have to think a bit tactically, too, when you have just 11 players. It’s been interesting to experience it first-hand in the IPL.”
The impact player rule that came into existence from the 2023 IPL season has constantly attracted divided feedback. While it has allowed a plethora of uncapped talents to get a window of opportunity to showcase their skills, the 12 vs 12 battle hasn’t gone down well with the pundits of the game. If the first season was about the teams testing the waters, this year has seen the batting approach go through the roof in terms of intent. On Friday, the rule came to KKR’s aid as they sent out Manish Pandey as the Impact Player with the side struggling at 57/5, thereby holding back Andre Russell and Ramandeep Singh for the back end.
It was a gamble from the visitors who were clearly planning to use a bowler in that slot for later in the game. But with the game situation demanding flexibility in the approach, KKR opted to tweak their tactics and sent in the Karnataka batter to weather the storm. It worked a treat as Pandey combined with Venkatesh Iyer for a decisive 83-run stand that gave Kolkata the platform towards a strong total. Starc did concede that the batters have upped the game but did underline the role of the Impact Player in this.