Veteran Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has voiced his support for the "impact player" rule in the Indian Premier League, highlighting its strategic benefits. The impact player rule allows teams to substitute a player during the proceedings who can potentially influence the game's outcome, either with the bat or ball. Ashwin states that this rule enables teams to adapt more dynamically to the evolving conditions of a match.

“Why I think the Impact Player rule is not so bad is because it gives a little more value for strategy. The other side of that argument is it doesn't encourage allrounders. But no one is stopping them. In this generation, they don't do it [batters bowling and vice-versa]. It's not like they're discouraged because of the Impact Player rule. Look at Venkatesh Iyer, he's currently rocking for Lancashire. There's an opportunity for innovation and it makes the game fairer,” Ashwin said on Kris Srikkanth’s YouTube channel

R Ashwin also brought forward the example of Sunrisers Hyderabad's player Shahbaz Ahmed, who was brought in as the Impact Player in the side’s match against Rajasthan Royals in the Qualifier 2 of IPL 2024, where he played a substantial role, claiming three wickets to help the side beat Rajasthan Royals.

"Sunrisers [Hyderabad] brought in Shahbaz Ahmed as an Impact Player [vs Rajasthan Royals, after hitting 175 for 9 batting first]; he went on to become a match-winner [with 3 for 23]. When dew has the potential to make games one-sided, teams bowling second get an extra option as a counter. If you're batting second, you can tactically make a substitution by offloading the extra bowler for a batter.”

"Games are tighter, an extra player is getting to play. Barring Kolkata or Mumbai, where scores skyrocketed, they haven't been a drastic change elsewhere. Like at Punjab Kings' home venue [Mullanpur], they were all 160-170 games." He said.