"I believe it is going to be 12 players playing against 12 players" - Sanjay Bangar on IPL 2023's impact player rule 

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) head coach Sanjay Bangar shared his opinion on the impact player rule which will be implemented in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL).

Teams will be allowed to make one swap to their playing XI through the four additional players they name after the toss.

If the team has named less than the maximum quota of four overseas players in the playing XI, then the substitute player can be an overseas candidate.

However, an overseas player cannot be swapped with an overseas impact player, if they have four such players in their playing XI. In this instance, the team can only introduce an Indian candidate as their impact player.

Bangar opined that the role of the No.7 player in the team, usually an all-rounder, will be diminished as teams would prefer a specialist operating in that position according to the situation demand, Bangar said on RCB Bold Diaries:

"From now on, I believe it is going to be 12 players playing against 12 players. because most teams will want their specialists to occupy their batting or bowling slots."

Bangar continued:

"So, it is going to be a little bit more difficult for players to contribute in both departments, especially lower down the order at No.7, they may not get utilized that much. Their spot may go to the specialist batter or bowler."

Sharing his thoughts on the impact player rule, RCB Director of Cricket, Mike Hesson, said:

"We heard about the impact player rule before the auction itself, so we looked into it, we thought how can we maximise this, there's a potential for the all-rounder to play a big part. So, there was some strategy involved, I quite liked it, bought a little bit intrigue, and I thought it was a nice development."

It is to be noted that the impact player has to be brought into the field by the 14th over of the innings. Prior to that, the swap can be made at any time of the innings, even right after the toss according to the conditions.

With this rule, teams can change their combination of their team according to whether they are batting or bowling first, which slightly negates the toss factor.

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"It would have been more interesting had the toss thing not been introduced" - Sanjay Bangar

To facilitate the impact player rule, teams will reveal their playing XI only after the toss. Captains can decide to make a change to their decided playing XI according to the result of the toss.

They will walk out to the toss with two different team sheets, and decide on one after they learn whether they are batting first or bowling first.

Noting that the new rule takes the surprise element out, Sanjay Bangar said:

"For me, it would have been more interesting had the toss thing not been introduced. Because it sort of takes away all the fun out of how teams are going to use, the impact substitute."

RCB will open their IPL 2023 campaign with a clash against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday, April 2.

Will the impact player rule be a hit among players and fans in IPL 2023? Let us know what you think.