Impact Player Rule: IPL’s million-dollar baby Mitchell Starc expects T20 World Cup to be different ball game

Kolkata Knight Riders ace seamer Mitchell Starc picked four wickets against hosts Mumbai Indians the other night and won the game for his side in IPL 2024, ending the 12-year winless drought at the Wankhede Stadium. Following the 25-run win, Starc shared his thoughts on the Impact Player rule, saying it changes thegame’sequation as every team bats deep, but admitted that the scoring rate at the upcoming T20 World Cup will not be the same asit’sa different ball game.

A memorable win for @KKRiders 🥳

They wrap up a solid performance to get past the #MI challenge 💜 💪

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/iWTqcAsT0O#TATAIPL | #MIvKKR pic.twitter.com/YT6MGSdPkj — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 3, 2024

Starc plays down poor bowling as the sole reason behind teams scoring over 250-run-per-inning, saying the pitches and boundaries have to do with this. Although Starc feels for the bowlers, he praised the batters for playing fearless cricket, mainly during the Powerplays, lauding some individual brilliance.

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"The Impact Player rule changes things a fair bit,"Starc said at the press conference.

"Everyone gets to bat a lot deeper having a batting and a bowling XI.There'sa lot made of that rule throughout the tournament, andthere'sbeen a lot ofhigh scores, which is the nature of the wickets and the grounds we play on here.When you have batters and batting all-rounders come in at Nos. 8 or 9,it'sa long batting line-up.

"There'sno fear in the powerplay when all you have to do is to clear the infield and score runs. Certainly, there has been somereally goodbatting,don'tget me wrong,it'snot just the rules that play a part there.There'sbeen some fantastic scoring, some fantastic partnerships and some individual brilliance with the bat,"he added.

T20 WC will not see such scoring rates

This IPL season already has over half a dozen scores of 250-plus, with Punjab Kings chasing 261 against KKR in a record run-chase – the highest-ever in all T20s. However, given there is no Impact Player rule in international cricket, meaning only the chosen 11 players will play regardless of the situation, Starcdoesn’texpect the same scoring rate at the 20-team tournament.

He said that the all-rounders would come into play, and captains would be more tactical in their approach instead of having a cushion of playing any player per thegame’ssituation.

“There'sno Impact Player rule [in international cricket], so whether that affects the scores is yet to be seen. I think it probably will. People talk about the balance of the team when youcan'tjust 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'sbeen interesting to experience it first-hand in the IPL,”Starc said.

Meanwhile, the 2024 T20 World Cup begins on June 1 in the Caribbean and the USA.