“In general, I feel that it is going to slow down [development of allrounders] “Because eventually cricket is played by 11 players, not 12,” Rohit said on the Club Prairie Podcast, co-hosted by Adam Gilchirst and Michael Vaughan. “I’m not a big fan of impact players. You’re taking a lot out of the game only to have it be little entertainment for the people around you. But if you look at [at] It’s really just one aspect of cricket…. I can give you many examples: guys like Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube don’t bowl, which for us [India team] It’s not a good thing.”
Rohit’s comments come two weeks before the Indian selectors finalize and field the 15-man provisional squad for the T20 World Cup to be played in the Caribbean and the US starting June 1. Among the biggest selection questions facing the Indian team management is whether they should include players like Dube as one of the team’s all-rounders.
India have primarily considered the trio of Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel as all-rounders who can also provide batting depth, but the fitness and form of the latter two has been a talking point.
Even in 2023, while saying he “liked” the impact player rule, Rohit had said he was skeptical about how it would affect the role of all-rounders. “I don’t know if it will affect an all-rounder,” Rohit had said last season at the season-opening press conference in Mumbai, when he was captain. “An all-rounder will always be an all-rounder. No matter at what stage of the game, he will give you the option of bowling him at any time, making him bat at any time. So the all-rounder will remain an all-rounder. Yes, with that 12th player, you can always fill that void of having that balance of having a fifth or probably sixth pitcher or an extra hitter.”
While he is now criticizing the Impact Player rule, Rohit said he did not have any solution to offer to IPL. “I don’t know what can be done about it, but honestly, I’m not a fan of it,” he said. “Because obviously there are 12 players that you can select from and whoever that impact player is, you can see how the game is going and change it later depending on what you need and the behavior of the pitch. If you bat well, if you don’t To lose wickets , you can add another bowler, which gives you the option of having six or seven bowlers. You don’t need that extra batsman because many of the teams ahead are batting well, and then you hardly see the numbers 7. u 8 coming to bat.”