Klaasen raises voice against IPL's Impact Player Rule, says it must stay away from international cricket

Star South Africa keeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen has slammed IPL’s Impact Player Rule, saying it must stay away from international cricket for the batter’s creativity to remain intact. Impact Player Rule changed IPL’s equation this year, with teams scoring massive totals.

Klaasen, who was among the runs this season for SunRisers Hyderabad, smashing sixes at will, said it provides batters with more freedom, giving them license to go all out even on good pitches.

“The Impact sub-rule allowed batsmen to play with much more freedom, and the execution was at a different level on pitches that were good. 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,” Klaasen said while speaking to SportsBoom.

Meanwhile, there were countless examples of how the 12th man or the Impact Sub changed the result of a game this season. Voting against bringing this rule to the international stage, Klaasen said, as it frees up the batting side way too much, with teams having batters batting till number nine, it kills the zeal that bowlers or even all-rounders bring to the game.

“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 batsman at number nine with it, so there’s no need for anyone to hang around,” he said.

Klaasen added that this rule takes away the batting creativity needed in difficult conditions and tricky tracks, which wasn’t the case this season.

“It takes away the creativity of batting; it takes away smart batting. 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,” Klaasen continued.

Klaasen latest to bash Impact Player Rule

Meanwhile, Klaasen is not the first high-profile player to come out and speak against this, as India captain Rohit Sharma and Delhi Capitals coach and cricket veteran Ricky Ponting have also criticised it earlier.

While Rohit said this Impact Player Rule defuses all-rounders’ role in the team, Ponting said it is a nightmare for the coaches and the captain, increasing the burden of piling up strategies.