The Impact Player Rule in IPL: How It Works and Is It Staying?

The Impact Player rule lets each IPL side replace one player in its starting XI with a substitute during a match, and the substitute can bat and bowl in full. It turns a T20 side of eleven into, in effect, twelve: a team can pick an extra batter for the chase and an extra bowler for the defence. The rule has been part of the IPL since 2023 and officially runs to the end of the 2027 season, but its future is under review right now, with no decision announced as of 14 October 2026.

How the Rule Works

1. Five substitutes are named after the toss. Each captain gives the match referee a starting XI and up to five substitutes. Because the team is named after the toss, it can be built for batting or bowling first.
2. One of the five can become the Impact Player. Using one is optional.
3. He comes on at set moments: before the start of an innings, at the end of an over, or when a wicket falls or a batter retires.
4. He can bowl a full four overs, however many the player he replaced had already bowled. If he comes on in the middle of an over, he cannot bowl the rest of that over.
5. Only eleven can bat. He can bat anywhere in the order, but the side still has eleven batters in total.
6. The replaced player is finished. He takes no further part in the match, not even as a substitute fielder.
7. The overseas limit still applies. The Impact Player can be an overseas player only if the starting XI has three or fewer, so that no more than four are ever on the field.

Concussion replacements are a separate rule in the playing conditions, and an Impact Player who is concussed can himself be replaced under it.

A Worked Example

The first match it was used in shows how sides play it. In the opening game of IPL 2023 at Ahmedabad, Chennai Super Kings batted first, then brought on fast bowler Tushar Deshpande for batter Ambati Rayudu at the start of Gujarat's chase, making Deshpande the first Impact Player in IPL history. Gujarat Titans used theirs the other way round, bringing in batter Sai Sudharsan for Kane Williamson, who had been injured in the field. That is how the rule is built to be used: a side batting first can add a bowler for the second innings, and a side chasing can add a batter.

Where It Came From

The BCCI trialled an Impact Player in its domestic T20 competition, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, in the 2022-23 season. That version was different: four substitutes, with the swap allowed only before the 14th over of an innings. The BCCI announced the IPL version in December 2022 and it was first used in 2023. Many explainers still describe the domestic rules, which is where the confusion about four substitutes comes from.

Is the Impact Player Rule Staying?

Officially, yes, until the end of 2027. The IPL's governing council said in September 2024 that the regulation will continue for the 2025 to 2027 cycle. What has changed in 2026 is that the board has opened a review:

• 2 May 2026: BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said the board would review the rule after the tournament.
• 31 August 2026: the deadline for franchises to send the BCCI their feedback on playing conditions, including the Impact Player rule.
• September 2026: the IPL governing council discussed the rule and deferred a decision.
• 15 October 2026: the BCCI is reported to be meeting IPL stakeholders in Mumbai to discuss IPL 2027, with the rule on the agenda.

Until the BCCI announces otherwise, the rule stands for IPL 2027.

Why It Is Controversial

The main complaint is what it does to all-rounders. Rohit Sharma said in April 2024 that he was "not a big fan" and that the rule would hold back all-rounders, because sides no longer need a batter who bowls when they can simply add a bowler; he named Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube as players losing their chance to bowl, as Wisden reported. In May 2026 Sachin Tendulkar said the rule "needs to go away", arguing that adding a batter when bowlers are already under pressure creates an imbalance. Scores have certainly risen: by mid-May 2026 the season had produced 53 totals of 200 or more, a record for a single IPL, though how much of that is down to the rule is argued rather than measured.

Our guide to the rules of the IPL covers the rest of the playing conditions, and the IPL retention rules explain how squads are built before the auction.

FAQs: The Impact Player Rule

Can the Impact Player bat and bowl?
Yes. He can bowl a full four overs and bat anywhere, but only eleven players can bat in an innings.

Can the Impact Player be an overseas player?
Only if the starting XI has three or fewer overseas players.

Can a team use more than one Impact Player?
No. One per side per match, and using one is optional.

Can the replaced player come back?
No. He takes no further part, not even as a substitute fielder.

When did the Impact Player rule start?
In the IPL in 2023, after a trial in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2022-23.

Is the Impact Player rule in IPL 2027?
Officially yes: the IPL confirmed it for the 2025 to 2027 cycle. The BCCI is reviewing it, and no change had been announced as of 14 October 2026.