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Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya on Wednesday said now that the contentious Impact Player rule has been extended by three years, a cricketer has to be a pure all-rounder to find place in the starting eleven.
The rule allows a team to replace a player from their playing XI at a later stage of the match. The teams bring in a batting or bowling specialist as the situation demands.
The BCCI extended the rule to at least the 2027 edition despite reservations from leading Indian players, including Rohit Sharma who said the Impact Player strategy was holding back the development of Indian all-rounders with teams replacing them with an extra batter or bowler during the game.
"In the current scenario, it becomes difficult if you are not completely a 50-50 all-rounder to find your place. Going forward, this can change or will change, we will have to see. But yes, definitely if you want to encourage more all-rounders and groom them, a fixed spot is required," said Pandya during the season-opening media interaction.
MI head coach Mahela Jaywardene echoed the skipper's views on the issue. "It has given a different set of challenges. So we have to adapt and get better. My only concern at that time was that sometimes you have a pure all-rounder and they have a specific role to play but the other all-rounders are taken out of the equation because you can get a genuine bowler or batter, that is something we have to see in the long term," reckoned the Sri Lankan great.
Pandya will miss MI's opening game on March 23 due to a one-match suspension for over-rate related offences last year. In his absence, Surya Kumar Yadav will lead the side.