'People will try and justify...': Shastri backs contentious 'Impact Player' rule

Former India coach Ravi Shastri on Tuesday backed the controversial Impact Player rule of IPL 2024 citing how it has led to exciting and unfathomable endings However the Impact Player rule has been a hot topic of debate during the ongoing IPL seasonShastri suggested that the rule has contributed to many compelling finishes in IPL 2024The Impact Player rule is good You have to evolve with the times You know it happens in other sports as well Its got tighter finishes You have to evolve with the times and I think its a good rule You saw the number of tight finishes we had in last years IPL So you know it has made a big difference Shastri told Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube channelThe rule allows a particular team to introduce a 12th player to the team from a list in which the five names are given at the time of a toss A team can bring in a player for the playing XI by replacing any player the team wants depending on the situationYou know when any new rule comes in there will bepeople will try and justify why thats not right But in time when you see the scores 200 and 190 and then like you mentioned individuals grabbing that opportunity and making the most of it people will start relooking at how they think about it Shastri saidMeanwhile Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI secretary Jay Shah refused to commit to the continuation of the Impact Player rule in the IPL saying it would be decided after consulting with captains and coaches However he emphasised the importance of the rule which permits two additional Indian players to be included in an IPL teams XIImpact Player is like a test case We have implemented it slowly The biggest advantage of it is that two Indian players are getting a chance in each game which is the most important We will consult with the players franchises broadcasters and take a call This is not permanent but I am not saying that it will go Shah told reporters at the BCCI headquarters in MumbaiAlso Read The Light on Pocket High on Impact players of IPL 2024 so farThe Impact Player rule has been labelled as one of the primary causes for enormous scores recorded in IPL 2024 India captain Rohit Sharma was the first highprofile player to criticise the rule stating that the rule has hampered the development of allrounders in the countryI genuinely feel it is going to hold back the development of allrounders because eventually cricket is played by 11 players not 12 So I am not a big fan of the Impact Player Rule because you are taking so much from the game just to make it a little more entertaining for the people around you Rohit saidHowever DC head coach Ricky Ponting stated that he was fine with the IPL retaining the Impact Player provided it made the competition a better spectacle However as a coach he confessed that he didnt like the rule and called it a nightmareOn the other hand Kolkata Knight Riders KKR fast bowler Mitchell Starc also stated that the Impact Player rule had contributed to bowlers poor performance in the ongoing IPL 2024The Impact Player rule changes things a fair bit Everyone gets to bat a lot deeper having a batting and a bowling XI Theres a lot made of that rule throughout the tournament and theres been a lot of high scores which is the nature of the wickets and the grounds we play on here When you have batters and batting allrounders come in at Nos 8 or 9 its a long batting lineup Starc who has conceded runs at 1137 so far had saidWith agency inputs